HOUSING ADAPTATION grants for elderly people or people with disabilities are in crisis all around the country, Age Action Ireland has said.
Wicklow County Council has said it is unlikely to reopen applications for the grants at all this year.
Housing adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability are administered by local authorities and chiefly funded by the Department of the Environment.
They are means tested and involve grants of up to €30,000 for work such as widening doors to take a wheelchair, building a downstairs bathroom for a person who can no longer walk upstairs and building extensions.
Every year, local authorities run out of money for the scheme and either put applicants on waiting lists or refuse to accept further applications.
In May, the Department of the Environment announced almost €80 million in funding for the grants, but councils must make up a quarter of that from their own funds. And they can also only recoup the money from the department after they have spent it. As a result many councils, already strapped for cash, are struggling to administer the scheme.
Wicklow County Council closed their waiting list for the grants in August 2008. They were allocated €1,230,000 by the department in May, but must make up €328,000 from their own resources. The allocation must also cover the mobility aids grant and the housing aid for the elderly grant, the council has said, as well as covering the remainder of applications from two other grants abolished in 2007.
The council has paid out over €200,000 so far this year. It has a further €1.46 million in grants either approved or approved in principle. In total, it has €3 million worth of grants on hand.
Eamon Timmins of Age Action Ireland said the grants were only available in 18 out of 34 councils at the end of April.
He said the older persons grant was essential to help people remain in their own homes for longer and actually saved the Government money by keeping people out of nursing homes.
The charity has called on the Government to carry out a proper review of the level of need for the scheme and to give a commitment to support it as part of the upcoming National Positive Aging Strategy.
