Disabled housing grants cut by local authorities

PEOPLE with disabilities are being forced to live in miserable conditions because house improvement grants are being curbed by local councils, according to the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA).

At its annual conference, the association heard that many county councils and other local authorities are limiting the amount of assistance families can receive to adapt homes for people with disabilities.

The maximum grant allowed by the Department of Environment regulations is 20,000, but the IWA says many councils have introduced caps as low as 6,000.

IWA director of services Anne Winslow said some cash-strapped local authorities have suspended the scheme or introduced severe means testing.

“Our members are fed up with these authorities’ failure to provide this basic entitlement. Many people with disabilities continue to live in miserable conditions without adequate sleeping, eating or toilet facilities,” she said.

IWA chief executive Seamus Thompson blamed the problems on a failure by the Department of the Environment to support local authorities.

The association demanded an urgent review, with specific short and long-term targets to take disabled people out of situations where they can not have a shower or use their toilet due to the lack of an accessible home.

The weekend conference in Bundoran, Co Donegal, also heard concerns over the abuse of disabled parking spaces, cutbacks in the Community Employment schemes waiting lists for assisted living services and disability legislation.