Minister for Mental Health and Older People announces additional funding for Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme in 2025

• Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme is designed to help older people live healthier and more independent lives in their own homes for longer
• additional €0.667 million in funding for the Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme builds on €5.2 million in annual recurring funding

Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler has announced an additional €0.667 million in funding for the Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme for 2025. This new funding builds on the initial €5.2 million in annual recurring funding from the older persons budget in the Department of Health, which enabled the expansion from nine pilot sites to all 31 local authorities nationwide.

Since its launch in July, the programme has been delivering on its objectives, now with a full staff complement of 44 local coordinators. The Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme is an innovative support coordination initiative designed to help older people live healthier and more independent lives in their own homes for longer.

Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler said:

• over 4,600 home visits and over 9,000 supports provided between May 2021 and December 2023
• the national rollout aims to support up to 10,500 older people per year
• the World Health Organisation (WHO) cites the programme as a best practice example for person-centred integrated care for older people

The Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme provides a comprehensive model of care that supports older people to remain in their own homes, where possible, to avoid hospital admission and early or unnecessary admission to residential care. Participants can self-refer or be referred by family members, friends, healthcare providers, social prescribers, or community members.

Local Coordinators, based in each local authority, conduct home visits and assess needs across six domains: health, housing, social and community supports, assistive technologies, climate, and finance. They then work with each older person to design a personalised action plan to support their health and independence.

Moving into the national rollout phase, the programme will continue to seek opportunities to establish partnerships with other agencies and organisations to deliver comprehensive supports for older people.

The national rollout of the Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme was launched on 10 July 2024 by the Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler along with Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Alan Dillon. It is delivered by Local Government through the Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service hosted by Meath County Council.

The approach taken by the Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme has been cited by the World Health Organisation as a best practice example for the provision of person-centred integrated care for older people. It has also been highlighted as a case study in the first progress report of the UN Decade of Ageing published in November 2023.

Healthy Age Friendly Homes is strategically aligned with a number of government policies, including:

• the Programme for Government (Universal Healthcare, Climate Action)
• the shared Department of Health and Department of Housing policy statement ‘Housing Options for our Ageing Population’
• Sláintecare
• Housing for All
• the Healthy Communities Programme
• the World Health Organisation’s ‘Housing and Health Guidelines’