Grant to adapt houses of older and disabled people gets €80m boost

The Housing Adaptation Grant helps people to make changes and adaptations to their home

placeholder image — The Housing Adaptation Grant helps people to make changes and adaptations to their home

Over €80million in funding is being allocated to housing adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability.

News of the funding - which has increased by approximately 8% since last year - was announced today (Monday March 28) by the Minister for Housing, Darragh O'Brien.

People with a disability can now avail of a grant of up to €30,000 for necessary works to make a house more suitable for their needs, with grants of up to €8,000 available to help older people conduct repairs or improvements on their homes.

Grants of up to €6,000 are also available for mobility aids.

Minister O'Brien said he was "delighted" to allocate the funding and said, "Importantly, home adaptations help reduce the dependency on our health services by supporting independent living for as long as possible and in other instances facilitate an early return from hospital, taking pressure off already over-burdened services.

"These grants will also provide a boost to local economies, creating employment opportunities for local contractors.”

Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Peter Burke, also commented and said the grants will help older people stay in their own homes and their own communities.

He said, "These grants have a huge impact on the quality of life of the many beneficiaries and play a vitally important role in helping people with a disability and people who are reaching an age in life when they are less mobile, to continue to live independently in their own homes."

It is bankrolled primarily by exchequer funding through the Department of Housing (80%), with the remaining 20% coming from the relevant local authority.