Housing for people with a disability involves a cross government response:
- The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government’s role involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of local authorities in addressing housing at local level.
- Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of housing for people with a disability and related services rests with individual local authorities. For further information please contact your local authority.
- The Housing Agency is responsible for driving and overseeing the implementation of the actions in terms of progressing housing provision for people with disabilities. This is done primarily through its various subgroups.
- The Health Service Executive (HSE) is responsible for the provision of healthcare and social supports for people with a disability and manages a significant annual budget for such services. Details are available are on the HSE website
- The Department of Health also provides funding to facilitate housing and support for people with a disability and in collaboration with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is involved in the provision of a national framework of policy and legislation for housing of people with disabilities.
- The Department of Justice and Equality coordinates the development of Government disability policy on a wider scale. This in turn informs Department policy on housing.
Housing Policy for People with a Disability
National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability 2011-2016
The National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability 2011 – 2016 was published in October 2011. The associated National Implementation Framework for the National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability 2011-2016 was published in July 2012. These documents, which are joint publications of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Department of Health, set out the Government’s broad framework for the delivery of housing for people with disabilities through mainstream housing options. They were developed as part of a coherent framework in conjunction with the Government’s mental health policy: Time to Move on from Congregated Settings – A Strategy for Community Inclusion.
The commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government provides a platform to consolidate and build on the significant work to date, and will ensure that momentum is sustained in future housing policy development. The Strategy has also been affirmed in the Action Plan for Housing and has been extended to 2020 to deliver on its aims and continue to guide and progress policy.
The Department also published the National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability (2011-2016) – in Easy Read format.
Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness
Published in July 2016, Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is designed to:
- Provide for the needs of older people or people with a disability living in social housing
- Provide targeted support to private houses, via the Housing Adaptation Grant, Housing Aid for Older People and Mobility Aids Grant
- Enable older people and people with disabilities to remain living independently in their own homes for longer and also to facilitate early return from hospital stays
- Continue to support the transitioning of people with disabilities from congregated settings to community-based living, through ring-fenced housing capital provision
Full details are available on the Rebuilding Ireland website
Implementation of Policy
Implementation of identified actions in the National Housing Strategy for People with Disability 2011-2016 is being driven primarily by the Housing Agency by means of a dedicated sub-group. This comprises representatives from:
- Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government
- HSE
- Local authorities
- Irish Council for Social Housing
- Various disability representative organisations
Much work has been done to deliver on various initiatives to support both new supply of dedicated housing for people with disabilities and provide for the adaptation of existing stock. This subgroup continues to progress a range of priority actions within an agreed work plan and addresses the main issues concerning the housing of people with disabilities. It has also established task groups relating to community living and mental health.
An Implementation Monitoring Group (IMG) was established by the Department to monitor and report on progress. The IMG is chaired by a senior official of the Department and comprises representatives from the HSE, Department of Health, the Housing Agency and disability representative organisations.
The following are the progress reports published by the IMG detailing the progress made from 2013:
- Fifth Progress Report on the Implementation of the National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability: January – December 2018
- Fourth Progress Report on the Implementation of the National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability: January – December 2017
- Third Progress Report on the Implementation of the National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability: January – December 2016
- Second Progress Report on the Implementation of the National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability: January 2014 – December 2015
- First Progress Report on the Implementation of the National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability: September 2012 – December 2013
The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government in conjunction with the Housing Agency have also published A guide to Housing Options available through Local Authorities. The booklet provides an overview on the various housing options and schemes available through local authorities. It covers a wide range of topics including applying for social housing support, grants for housing adaptations and local authority mortgages. Easy Read and Plain English versions of the booklet have also been developed through Inclusion Ireland and NALA respectively.
Our Housing Grants for People with a Disability webpage has information on the Housing Adaptation Grant and the Mobility Aids Grant.
