Minister Dillon announces new preferential Caravan Loan Scheme to enhance delivery of Traveller accommodation
- Foilsithe: 7 Samhain 2024
- An t-eolas is déanaí: 12 Aibreán 2025
The Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Alan Dillon has today (7 November 2024) announced the introduction of a new preferential National Caravan Loan Scheme for Travellers. The new Scheme will allow local authorities to offer preferential, discounted loans for Traveller families to purchase a caravan / trailer for use as their primary residence.
The Minister outlined that the new Scheme will substantially increase the loan limits from €40,000 to up to a maximum of €80,000, in certain circumstances (for example, providing accommodation for larger households), commencing with provision of €4 million funding in 2025 for the Scheme.
Announcing the Scheme today, the Minister said:
“This government is dedicated to improving the lives of all our citizens and this new National Scheme reflects our commitment to improve the delivery of Traveller accommodation. The Scheme helps Traveller families to buy trailers and caravans in accordance with their own cultural preference. The increased loan limits will support the purchase of better quality caravans and trailers with a longer life-span.”
Housing for All commits to providing more and improved Traveller-specific accommodation as a priority. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage rolled out a series of pilot schemes from 2021-2024, with a view to replacing the previous Caravan Loan Scheme as it was no longer fit for purpose. The amount available under the previous scheme of €6,350 per caravan was limiting the purchase of suitable quality standard trailers / caravans and during the pilot schemes, this was increased to €40,000.
The new preferential Caravan Loan Scheme has been formulated following an evaluation of the pilot Caravan Loan Schemes. Based on the sustained demand for loans during the pilot phase, it is evident that there is an established need for a National Caravan Loan Scheme that meets the cultural preferences of the Traveller community.
The Minister also emphasised that today’s announcement sits within a broader record of delivery of Traveller accommodation. He said:
“Since this government has taken office I am pleased to report that capital funding for Traveller-specific accommodation, primarily for the provision and refurbishment of halting sites and group housing schemes, was fully drawn-down by local authorities in the past four years. This improvement in the drawdown of funding has led to a capital investment of €81 million from 2020-2023 with a further €21 million in funding available this year. The significant funding we have made available is a clear demonstration of the government’s commitment to providing real accommodation solutions for Travellers.”
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will now proceed to implement the new Scheme and communicate with local authorities through Circular advising the details of the new Scheme to facilitate commencement of the scheme across all local authorities in early 2025.
Notes
The purpose of the proposed National Caravan Loan Scheme is to enable local authorities to provide preferential loans to Travellers to purchase their own caravans/ trailers/ mobile homes for occupation on official halting sites for use as their primary residence.
Section 25 of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998 allows for the operation of a loan scheme for this purpose.
Accommodation for Travellers is provided across a range of options, including standard local authority housing, which is financed from the department’s capital allocations for social housing, and Traveller-specific accommodation, which is also funded by means of 100% capital funding from the department.