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The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, and Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell, have welcomed the signing of regulations which will bring fixed track hoists within the scope of the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability Schemes.
Grants of up to €30,000 are available to assist people with a disability in carrying out necessary works to make a house more suitable for their needs. Additionally grants of up to €6,000 are available for mobility aids. These schemes can now be used to cover the cost of installing a fixed track hoist.
Funding of over €83 million is being made available by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for these grants in 2023.
Commenting today Minister O’Brien said:
“I know just how important these grants are for people and I am delighted that I could extend the schemes to cover fixed track hoists which will benefit both the person with a disability and their carer. The €83 million allocation for this year will build on the success of last year where we exceeded the number of home adaptations initially targeted.”
Minister O’Donnell added:
“I very much welcome that fixed track hoists will now be covered under the Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes. These grants have a huge bearing on the home life of the many beneficiaries and play a critical role in helping disabled people and people who are reaching an age in life when they are less mobile, to continue to live independently in their own homes.”
The change announced to these schemes, which supports home adaptations for older people, people with a disability and people with mobility issues, will be funded through 80% exchequer funding through the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with the remaining 20% in funding coming from the relevant local authority.
There are three distinct grant types available to facilitate changes needed to make homes suitable for older people and people with disabilities:
The commencement of legislation will bring fixed track hoists within the scope of the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability Schemes, specifically within the Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability scheme and Mobility Aids Grant scheme.
The grants are 80% funded by the department, together with a 20% matching contribution from the resources of the local authority. The schemes are means tested and operate on a sliding scale with the highest percentage grants available to those with the lowest incomes and vice versa. The detailed administration of these schemes including assessment, approval, prioritisation and apportionment between the three schemes is the responsibility of local authorities.
€86 million expenditure overall in 2022, facilitating the payment of 12,487 grants, which compares favourably to the original target of over 10,700 households.
In 2021, there were 10,083 grants delivered at a total cost of €70.62 million overall.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage published the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People 2022 – 2027 Implementation Plan on 22 June 2023.
The Implementation Plan provides for the detailed implementation of the joint National Housing Strategy for Disabled People 2022 – 2027 developed by the Housing Agency, the department, the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth which sets out the government’s vision for delivering housing and related supports for disabled people to 2027.
The Implementation Plan will support the primary objective of the Strategy which is ‘to facilitate disabled people to live independently with the appropriate choices and control over where, how and with whom they live, promoting their inclusion in the community’.