Housing adaption grants threshold to increase

The Government is intending to bump up the amount of grants for homes older than 12 months under the Housing Adaptation Grant for Older People and People with Disabilities from €83.125 million to €93 million nationally, the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has told Meath County Council.

County councillors had called for increases in the maximum grants available.

Minister O’Brien said the main purpose of the grants was to spread their benefits by increasing the funding available at national level. In 2022 almost €86m had been made available to facilitate the payment of over 12,000 grants against a target of 10,700 grants. A provision of €83.125m had been allocated to local authorities for 2023 and the recently announced budget for 2024 has provided a further increase of €10m.

The Minister also said that the Housing for All scheme also committed to reviewing the grants and a report on the review had been prepared by his department.

“The review was informed by engagement with external stakeholders including the Department of Health, HSE, the Disability Federation of Ireland and the Irish Wheelchair Association. Written submissions were also invited and considered as part of this process.”

Among the areas considered were income thresholds and the grant limits, the Minister told the council.