Increase in housing adaptation grants

KERRY is to receive around €92,000 extra as part of the 2018 ‘Housing Adaptations for Older People and People with a Disability’ according to recent figures announced by Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Damien English.

The funds, which are allocated on an 80/20 basis between government and local authorities, equate to roughly €7,000 per month extra for the scheme in Kerry in 2018. At a recent announcement the government allocated €1.849 million for the county with Kerry County Council pitching in €462.000 from its own purse, bringing the overall total to €2.312 million.

However Kerry’s exchequer allocation in 2017 for the grant was €1,776,783, with Kerry County Council’s allocation amounting to €444,196.

Announcing the new allocations, Minister English said he was pleased to be in a position to increase the funding for this important programme, nationally, by some 11 percent. All local authorities will be getting an increase in 2018, he said.

Last year the exchequer set aside €59.8m which they have this year increased to €66.25m.

The Housing Adaptation Grant helps people make changes and adaptations to their home making it wheelchair-accessible, extending it to create more space, adding a ground-floor bathroom or toilet or adding a stair-lift. Grants are available up to €30,000 for adaptations; up to €8,000 for housing aid for older people, and up to €6,000 for mobility aids.

The grant is suitable for a person with a physical, sensory/ intellectual disability or mental health difficulty and its primary aim is 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.

Grants apply to owner-occupied private housing, along with houses purchased under the Tenant Purchase Scheme, private rented accommodation, accommodation provided under voluntary housing schemes, and accommodation occupied by persons living in communal residences.