Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 June 2018
211. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the budget for the housing adaptation grant for persons with disabilities; the number of persons who have received the grant; and the average number of grants provided to persons over the past five years, including the current spend to date for 2018, in tabular form. [25835/18]
View answerMy Department provides funding under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes for Older People and People with a Disability, in respect of private housing. There are three separate grants available and local authorities receive an overall allocation, with responsibility for the apportionment between the schemes being a matter for each local authority.
The recently announced funding allocation in 2018 for the schemes is €66.25m, comprising €53m Exchequer funding and €13.25m from local authority resources. Details of the allocations for these grant schemes in 2018 are available at the following link: Housing Schemes.
At the end of May 2018, over 28% of this allocation has been spent.
Information on these grant schemes, including the numbers of grants funded per annum and the funding provided to each local authority, is available on my Department’s website at the following link Housing Scheme Statistics.
My Department also provides funding to local authorities under the Disabled Persons Grants Scheme, for adaptations and extensions to the existing social housing stock to meet the needs of local authority tenants. Funding under this scheme has increased progressively in recent years; from a position of €7m in 2013, funding of over €13m was provided in both 2016 and 2017, supporting improvements in over 1,000 houses in 2016 and over 1,300 houses in 2017. The average grant in 2017 was approximately €10,000.
As local authorities have delegated responsibility in the use of the DPG scheme and the distribution of the funding is a matter for them to administer, data in relation to the number of social homes improved or adapted was not collected prior to 2016.
Local authorities have submitted to my Department details of their work proposals and related funding requirements for this scheme in 2018. These have now been evaluated and funding allocations will be confirmed to the local authorities shortly. In order to ensure that there were no delays for priority and urgent cases, all local authorities were advised that they can undertake works of up to 65% of their 2017 allocation, in advance of the 2018 full year allocation. This has allowed them to plan and progress works under the scheme and will support the full utilisation of the 2018 allocation by end-year.
