Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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81. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he has considered grants for mid-to-low-income households that wish to expand their bedroom space through extensions or attic conversions to help address the current housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23569/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Whatever about the debates, no one doubts the continuing severity of the housing and accommodation crisis. In this question, I am relaying a suggestion that came to me and that I believe is worth considering. It is not by any means the panacea to the housing crisis, but might we consider making grants available, particularly to low-and-middle-income families, to do attic conversions and extensions to their homes where they could increase bedroom space and make some contribution towards dealing with the problems of overcrowding and the housing crisis?

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Housing for All - A New Housing Plan for Ireland is the Government's housing policy to 2030 and the most effective way of accelerating housing supply. Pathway 4 of Housing for All specifically looks at making the most efficient use of our existing housing stock.

My Department provides private housing grants to assist older or disabled people who wish to stay in their own homes or those on low incomes who are on social housing lists. For example, up to €30,000 is available under the housing adaptation grant for people with disabilities, which can be used for extensions. More than €83 million is available in 2023 to support the suite of housing adaptation grants available from local authorities. My Department also provides funding under the improvement works in lieu of local authority housing scheme, IWILS. This scheme allows a local authority to improve privately owned accommodation as an alternative to providing local authority housing.

While I am not considering a broader grant for extensions or attic conversions at this time, my Department has recently reviewed the current suite of housing adaptation grants.

I will give careful consideration to the review report and expect to make a decision on its recommendations as soon as possible.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister of State told us about a lot of stuff that we already know. It is a new suggestion that we develop a grant scheme, particularly for those who do not have the resources to do it, to build attic conversions and extensions that would create additional bedroom space and so on, in the face of a very severe housing crisis, one aspect of which is very severe overcrowding. It is not just about disability adaptations and so on but creating a new scheme to provide funding for people who would not otherwise have the means to extend their homes to create additional bedroom space. I am not saying that is a magic bullet, but it is a practical suggestion that could assist in the current severe situation.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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We have many measures that provide additional supply, including 30,000 new homes last year. The Minister referenced record commencements and completions in the first quarter of this year. Nearly 1,800 applications to date have been made to the Croí Cónaithe scheme. The target was 2,500 applications up to 2026 but 1,800 have come in to date, of which 702 have been approved. We want to bring old buildings back into use where they were built prior to 2007 and, effectively, have been vacant for two years. That scheme can be used in respect of renters as well as owner-occupiers and has been in place since 1 May.

I noted the point the Deputy made. As he will probably be aware, there are SEAI grants, including insulation grants for attics and so forth. At present, defined measures are in place that are structured around generally getting activation and getting new projects under way, including the repair and lease scheme through local authorities and, more particularly, Croí Cónaithe, to bring older properties back into use to deal with people who want to provide that excess capacity for rentals.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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A new idea has been suggested, so I ask the Minister of State not to just repeat what the Government is already doing. I know there are SEAI grants for insulation. One of the problems with them is that they are only useful to people who are already fairly well off. The proposal that has come to me, which is a good one, is that we have a grant scheme particularly directed at lower- and middle-income households to do attic conversions and expand their homes to provide extra bedroom space. In the same way we are giving lots of handouts to developers and wealthy people, let us give that money to ordinary people who could not otherwise afford to do it, to help ease the housing and overcrowding crisis. It is a sensible, practical proposal that I ask the Government to seriously consider.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Before the Minister of State responds, a number of contributors want to come in.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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To follow on from the point made by Deputy Boyd Barrett, the local authority in the area where I live, Cork City Council, does not build extensions for people and its criteria for housing allocation are very tight. I am dealing with a number of families. One man has a notice to quit and the house he is in is not fit for his family. Local authorities should be able to build extensions or convert attics so that families do not go on the transfer list. Cork City Council does not do that. As a result, hundreds of people are living in overcrowded accommodation. An individual who wants a transfer out of overcrowded accommodation, from a two-bedroom to three-bedroom unit, or a three-bedroom to four-bedroom unit, could be waiting for up to ten years. Children then live in overcrowded accommodation at a time they need a proper home.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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There are two more contributors. I ask Deputies to be brief.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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There was a grant some years ago - perhaps my colleague, Deputy Durkan, might recall it - where in lieu of a housing application, the extension was built and the council then deemed that the housing need had been met. That might be worth looking at.

I will refer to what the Minister of State said regarding the review of housing adaptation grants. We need that very soon. This week, it was announced that more money would be made available for County Louth but Louth County Council decided it would not accept any more applications under the housing adaptation grant scheme from this week. This was because it has a backlog of 300 priority cases. It is not good enough that that is happening. The Minister of State needs to examine every allocation for every county, find out the number of special-needs people that need the supports, and give them the money. The Government has the money in the coffers. The needs of people with disabilities, serious illness, heart illnesses and all sorts of problems cannot be met. It is not good enough that applications are being put in the bin by Louth County Council.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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The solution being suggested is a very good and practical one that needs to be looked at. Is it ideal or a substitute for building more housing? Absolutely not, but there are families where there is a lot of overcrowding at present. There are situations in my constituency where three families are in a regular house, all using one bathroom and one toilet. They have space to extend and put in another toilet or bathroom, which would take a massive stress out of the situation, but they just do not have the money or ability to do it and there is nothing they can apply for. If this proposal could just be looked at, it would be very helpful.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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We are always open to good ideas. If the Deputy could flesh out his suggestion a little more and come forward with the actual proposal, the Department will consider it. We very much take that on board.

Deputy Gould has left the Chamber. It is open to local authorities to build extensions, although they may take different decisions. It is something local authority members should take up with their management and executive. There is no reason local authorities cannot do extensions. Some choose differently but that decision is taken at local authority level.

I am aware of the situation in County Louth, as raised by Deputy O'Dowd. There are two elements to it. One is that Louth County Council is not accepting applications at present. The Deputy asked whether the council had made contact with the Department; I think it already has. It is something we will look at in the context of this current year but, more particularly, we are now very much considering, and forensically engaging, with the view provided by officials regarding the housing adaptation grant.

Deputy O'Callaghan supported Deputy Boyd Barrett's proposal. It is something we will bring forward in a more detailed way and that the Department will consider.