City Council anticipates a ‘substantial’ hike in drawdown of adaptation grants

Cork City Council has said it anticipates a “substantial” increase in its drawdown of adaptation grants to help older people and people with disabilities next year.

The announcement comes after The Echo reported that over half a million euro worth of grants was not drawn down by the council last year, leading one Cork TD to claim grant limits are currently too low for works to be feasible.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage provides funding to local authorities under the Disabled Persons Grants (DPG) scheme to carry out works on social housing stock to address the needs of older people, people with a disability or those living in overcrowded situations.

In 2022, a funding allocation of €1,593,115 was made to Cork City Council under the DPG scheme, but only €1,052,213 in grants was drawn down, meaning that €540,902 in available funding was not used.

Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, said he believed the failure to draw down the full funding was likely because construction inflation meant it in some cases it was not feasible for Cork City Council to actually sign contracts and get necessary work done.

Mr Gould called on the Government to consider increasing adaptation grant limits because, he said, the current thresholds are too low and are acting as a barrier to vital adaptations.

A spokesperson for Cork City Council said the council had carried out minor works to 65 individual local authority properties under the DPG programme in 2022.

“Larger projects, which include for extensions to properties, were partially delayed in 2022 due to the impacts of Covid and significant construction cost inflation.

“2023 will see a marked increase in larger DPG adaptation works to properties and the council anticipate a substantial increase in the amount of departmental funding drawdown in relation to DPG works in 2023,” the spokesperson said.

“Cork City Council has also increased the number of transfers of tenants requiring major adaptation works to more appropriate city council owned accommodation to meet their needs following assessment of their applications. 

"This can help address the needs of certain tenants more quickly with less disruption,” they added.