Owners of empty Laois homes taking up €800 tax free offer for Ukrainians

Owners of 11 empty homes in Laois have offered them as temporary accommodation for Ukrainian war refugees, in response to a new Government campaign offering €800 tax free per month per home.

Laois County Council is leading the project in Laois, asking people to contact them if they have a house or apartment that will be empty for the next six months.

They have now clarified that it can include houses owned by elderly people in nursing homes, as the payment is not taken under the Fair Deal scheme.

Carmel McNichol who is overseeing the Ukraine support by Laois County Council, updated councillors at the December monthly meeting on progress with the campaign.

"We have 11 units so far offered for the Offer a Home scheme. Inspections have been carried out on some, so we wll be moving quite quickly in the coming weeks to place families in them. 

"Christmas may present barriers, it will happen early in the New Year," the official said.

"There are currently 270 Ukrainians in emergency accommodation around Laois. Our objective is to house as many as we can, to find them places suitable to go to. We will take as many offers as we can and get them assessed," she said.

Cllr Paddy Bracken asked her to clarify if there are implications to anyone under the Fair Deal Scheme.

"Can that rent be considered income?" he asked.

"This payment is not regarded as assessable income under the Fair Deal Scheme," Mc McNicholl said.

Cllr Aisling Moran asked if the scheme can be widened to include Irish homeless people.

"We need to do something similar for all the Irish who are homeless. We've shown we can do it now," she said.

Latest figures show that 742 Ukrainians are staying Laois, while the war by Russia continues on their country. 

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The initial scheme begun last July to offer homes and rooms to Ukrainians in Laois, resulted in 97 Laois units offered.

The scheme was then later taken over by county councils, and the monthly payment was doubled to €800 tax free per unit.

Details can be found on the offerahome.ie website