Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 June 2023
218. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will increase his Department's funding for 2023 to Louth County Council for housing adaptation grants, in view of the decision by the council not to accept any new applications in 2023 and that the council states that it has an existing backlog of 300 individually approved applications already; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26929/23]
View answer219. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline, in tabular form, the funding requested from each local authority for housing adaptation grants to his Department for 2021, 2022 and 2023; the amount subsequently granted; if any local authority has requested further funding for these grants since its 2023 allocation; if he can request from each local authority the number in 2023 of already-approved applicants for such grants; the backlog, if any, which cannot be met from existing funding; the funding, if any, returned by any local authority under this heading to his Department for each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26930/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 218 and 219 together.
My Department provides funding under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability, to assist people in private houses to make their accommodation more suitable for their needs. The grants include the Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability, the Mobility Aids Grant and the Housing Aid for Older People, which are 80% funded by my Department, with a 20% contribution from the resources of the local authority. The detailed administration of this scheme including assessment, approval and prioritisation, is the responsibility of local authorities. Local authorities receive an overall allocation, with the responsibility for the apportionment between the three schemes being a matter for each authority given their knowledge of local need.
My Department's approach each year is to issue a single full year allocation to each local authority, so they can plan and implement the grants programme. Over the course of the year, my Department works closely with the local authorities to monitor spend and to achieve a full drawdown of the available funding. This means that if underspends arise on the part of some local authorities, they can be redistributed to other authorities which have high levels of grant activity.
The requests for additional funding received from local authorities in the years 2021 and 2022 were approved by my Department. Details of initial annual allocations and subsequent local authority drawdown for the years in question, including where additional funding has been sanctioned or initial allocations have been underspent, can be found on my Department's website at the following link:
www.housing.gov.ie/housing/statistics/social-and-affordable/other-local-authority-housing-scheme-statistics.
The requests received by my Department for additional funding from local authorities, to date in 2023, are set out in the following table:
|
Local Authority |
Additional Exchequer Funding Requested |
|
Louth |
€570,222 |
|
Westmeath |
€160,000 |
|
Limerick |
€800,000 |
|
Cork County |
€1,600,000 |
My Department is giving careful consideration to these requests and a decision will be issued to each local authority as soon as possible. My Department does not hold collated data in respect of applications approved by local authorities or any backlogs which cannot be met from existing funding. This information may be available directly from the local authorities.
