My Department provides funding under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People, to assist those in private houses to make their accommodation more suitable for their needs. The suite of grants, which include the Housing Adaptation Grant for Disabled People, the Mobility Aids Grant and the Housing Aid for Older People Grant, are funded by my Department with a contribution from the local authority.
The Housing (Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People) Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 612 of 2024), which came into effect on 1 December 2024, provides the legal basis for the scheme as administered by all local authorities. My Department issues guidelines to local authorities to ensure the consistent operation of the scheme nationwide. The detailed administration of the scheme including assessment, approval, prioritisation and apportionment is the responsibility of local authorities.
The schemes are means tested. In line with the Regulations and save in exceptional cases, where the applicant or their spouse has had an immediate and substantial change in earnings on a long-term basis arising from illness, injury or disability, the local authority is required to assess the previous tax year annual gross income for the relevant assessable members of the household.
In the case of self-employed/self-assessed individuals, income will vary from to year to year therefore it is necessary for the local authority to establish the Office of the Revenue Commissioner’s position on the most recent self-assessment. It is open to self-employed/self-assessed individuals to seek a position on income tax self-assessment for the previous year from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners during the course of the following year. Further details would be available from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners.
