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Government's housing adaptation grants are not enough

Government's housing adaptation grants are not enough

A Waterford councillor has called on the local authority to seek more funding for housing adaptation grants.

Minister Darragh O'Brien has outlined that Waterford Council received €2.2 million in funding, but it wasn't enough.

The Council had this year's entire allocation spent by April with the scheme being hugely over-subscribed.

Waterford's Housing Director, Ivan Grimes, says he finds correspondence from the Housing Minister on housing adaptation grants 'interesting'.

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"The demand is always much higher than the allocation of funding that we get from central government," Ivan told told WLR.

In contrast, there is often unspent money for the same grants within the private sector.

Councillors have requested that the local authority seek further funding as a result.

Ivan says they are currently finalising a submission to the Department to boost the funding for adaptations of homes.

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Independent Councillor, Joe Kelly, outlined recent correspondence from the Housing Minister at this month's Plenary meeting.

He's also questioning whether the allocation sufficiently met demands.

Councillor Kelly read out a response from the Housing Minister stating that "local authorities were all allocated funding equal to their requirements under the Disabled Persons Grant Scheme and the governments plan is to continue to do that."

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