Construction BUSINESS

Eoghan Murphy, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, has approved funding of €12 million for the Disabled Persons Grant Scheme.

In welcoming the efforts being made by Local Authorities to improve the quality of life for those with disabilities and those affected by over-crowding, Minister Murphy stated, “This will greatly improve the housing conditions for those living with disabilities and addresses issues of overcrowding in existing social housing stock, while Improvement Works in Lieu provide an alternative to social housing for approved social housing applicants currently in private accommodation.”

The Minister added, “I am very pleased today to allocate funding of €12million under this scheme. I will continue to keep the scheme under review and will consider providing further funding later in the year if the need arises.”

The Disabled Persons Grant Scheme provides funding for extensions and adaptations to existing social housing stock such as grab rails, disabled access ramps, wet rooms, etc.  The scheme also provides extensions in cases of overcrowding.

The scheme also provides funding for Improvement Works in Lieu in order to improve or extend privately owned accommodation where the occupant is already approved for social housing, reducing the strain on current social housing stock.

In order to ensure that work by Local Authorities on housing adaptations and extensions on local authority stock could continue uninterrupted in 2017, all Local Authorities were informed earlier in the year that they could undertake works up to a maximum value of 65% of their 2016 allocation in advance of specific approval of the 2017 allocation. This allowed them to plan and progress works under the scheme over the full year and will facilitate the full utilisation of their 2017 allocations.