Minister ‘not satisfied’ with elderly housing policy

THE Government’s current ‘ad hoc’ approach to housing for the elderly has been criticised by the minister with responsibility for the elderly.

Responding to a departmental request to outline his 2018 ministerial priorities Jim Daly, Minister of State with responsibility for Older People informed the Secretary General of the Department of Health, Jim Breslin, that ‘I am not satisfied with the current ad hoc approach to provide housing for the elderly.’ Mr Daly said the current policy does not have ‘sufficient focus on the lived experience [of the aged] of these units’.

The Minister told the senior Health official that a new housing policy to cater for the aged is urgently required.

He said that housing considerations currently focus on planning and engineering issues. Mr Daly said that in 2018, he would demand ‘greater focus on the quality of services’ – for example, daycare services and home help – that elderly people depend upon.

Mr Daly is also believed to have told senior Health officials that when it comes to developing housing for the elderly, ‘this initiative should be led by the Department of Health’. Currently this is the preserve of the Department of Housing, but, in what will be seen as a strong political signal of the need for significant change, Mr Daly warned: ‘Housing for the elderly is about more than blocks and mortar’.

From now on he warned that ‘service commitments from the HSE should be tied down at the planning stage’.

Mr Daly also warned that the new policy would entail a financial outlay from the HSE noting ‘a joined-up approach from Housing and the HSE includes funding’.

Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday Mr Daly also pledged that a new-year summit of all agencies would begin the process of developing a national strategy.