Housing for elderly ‘reaching crisis’

A CRISIS in housing for the elderly is looming, a social housing conference was told yesterday.

Voluntary housing associations that provide sheltered accommodation for old people are surviving on ad-hoc grants and fundraising as there is no revenue funding scheme in operation, said Donal McManus, executive director of the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH). At the same time, he said, the Government was paying 110m in subsidies to private, profit-making nursing homes this year.

Mr McManus told the ICSH conference, in Tralee that it would be better for older people to “hop on the Jeanie Johnston as the accommodation services in Ireland are just not sufficient”. He claimed the focus on nursing homes and hospitals was detrimental to the quality of life of older people.