Councillors highlight the delay paying out Kildare housing adaptation grants

Efforts to secure more money for those who have to adapt their homes will likely lead to a pressure on staff resources within Kildare County Council, a recent council meeting was told.

A number of councillors want to have the housing adaptation scheme, which provides money for people who need to have their home changed because of injury or disability issues, beefed up.

Some say this should be done through the local property tax with matching money from Kildare County Council.

However not every councillor felt it should come from the Local Property Tax (LPT) funds. They believe it should be sought from central funds instead. Some people are waiting up to three years for the work to be done, said Cllr Nuala Killeen, adding that Kildare County Council needs to demonstrate that the money is needed.

“Some of these are people who are just out of hospital and they are among the most vulnerable in society,” said Cllr Killeen at a KCC meeting.

Cllr Evie Sammon questioned why funding had not yet been drawn down from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. She does not believe that the issue is funding.

“I think it probably has more to do with procedures on how we draw (money) down from the department and resources within our own housing section.”

Cllr Tracey O’Dwyer said: “The figures that have been outlined show the issue not to be funding so I believe we probably have a resource issue or a match funding issue.”

KCC administers two schemes to facilitate housing adaptations for older people and people with a disability.

Both schemes are funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) and the council. Last year housing adaptation grants for privately owned homes totalled nearly €3.2m including 20% from KCC.

Disabled persons grants (DPG) for council owned homes amounted to €517,504 (including 10% funding from KCC).

Applications for each grant type are assessed by the housing department. Housing adaptation grant applications require an assessment by an occupational therapist.

Applicants are prioritised based on medical need.

However, due to the availability of resources the council is currently only in a position to approve DPGs on council owned properties where applicants are categorised as priority cases.

KCC official Annette Aspell said every effort will be made by the housing department to process grant applications in 2022 in order to take advantage of any additional funding that the Department can make available “having regard to the council’s ability to provide the local contribution necessary.”

Ms Aspell pointed out there is no capacity within the revenue budget for 2022 to fund additional staff resources so “it will likely be necessary to move resources from other areas of the housing department to the grants section, which may, in turn, have an impact on other service areas.”