Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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218. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to address the cases of persons who availed of the house purchase loan scheme to purchase a home and are now in a situation in which their accommodation is no longer fit for purpose, that is, they do not have adequate sleeping and living arrangements as a family group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22792/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Where a household’s current accommodation no longer meets their need (whether or not they  purchased the home using a loan from the local authority), they may apply to their local authority for social housing support. In order for a household to qualify for social housing support, a housing authority must carry out an assessment to establish whether the household meets specified eligibility requirements, including income eligibility requirements, and has a housing need, as defined in the Housing Acts. In determining whether a household has a housing need, housing authorities are required to have regard to whether the current accommodation is, inter alia, overcrowded within the meaning of section 63 of the Housing Act 1966.

In addition, the Finance (No 2) Act 2013 and Finance Act 2014 provide for a Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) Scheme, which runs until the end of 2018, which can be availed of by both homeowners and landlords. The incentive provides for tax relief by way of an Income Tax credit at 13.5% of qualifying expenditure on repair, renovation or improvement works carried out on a main home or rental property by qualifying Contractors. The full terms & conditions of the scheme can be found on the  website of the Revenue Commissioners at the following link: .

It should also be noted that my Department funds a range of housing supports for persons with a disability, living in both privately-owned housing and local authority housing. The Disabled Person Grant Scheme provides funds to local authorities to undertake adaptations and extensions to homes to meet the needs of local authority tenants with a disability, or to address serious overcrowding. The Housing Adaptation Grant Scheme for Older People and People with a Disability is also delivered by local authorities with funding from my Department. It assists other people and people with a disability in private houses to have necessary adaptations, repairs or improvement works carried out in order to make their accommodation more suitable for their needs. There are no restrictions on the type of disability covered by the schemes and the administration of the available funding is a matter for the local authorities based on their assessment of priority and need at the time.