merrion street

Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Damien English, has today announced that €66.25 million will be made available in 2018 for Housing Adaptations for Older People and People with a Disability living in private houses. This investment will facilitate changes needed to make homes suitable for a person with a physical, sensory/intellectual disability or mental health difficulty, to enable older people and people with disabilities to remain living independently in their own homes for longer and also to facilitate early return from hospital.

The Housing Adaptation Grant helps people to make changes and adaptations to their home, for example, making it wheelchair-accessible, extending it to create more space, adding a ground-floor bathroom or toilet or adding a stair-lift.

Announcing the new allocations, Minister English said

“I am pleased to be in a position to increase the funding for this important programme by some 11% in 2018’’. All local authorities will be getting an increase in 2018. The grants are 80% funded from the exchequer by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, with 20% funding from the relevant local authority.

Minister of State for Disability Issues, Finian McGrath, TD welcomed the increased funding, saying:

“I very much welcome this significant grant funding announcement which will assist many older people and also people with a disability to remain living independently in their own homes for as long as possible. I know that with previous funding many people have added supports to their homes in order to achieve greater ease, comfort and mobility in their daily lives and I would encourage a strong take up of the funding announced today.”

Grants of up to €30,000 are available to assist people with a disability in carrying out necessary works to make a house more suitable for their needs, up to €8,000 to assist older people living in poor housing conditions to have necessary repairs or improvements carried out and up to €6,000 for mobility aids to address mobility problems for a member of the household.

These grants have an immense impact on the quality of life of the many beneficiaries of the programme and play a vitally important role in helping people with a disability and people who are reaching an age in life when they are less mobile, to continue to live independently in their own homes.

The grants also create employment opportunities for builders and local businesses and help reduce the dependency on our health services by supporting independent living for as long as possible.

‘’I am confident that today’s allocation will continue to build on the progress made since the introduction of this scheme in 2007 and it will demonstrate the Government’s continued commitment to older people and people with a disability” the Minister concluded.