Almost 5,000 people to be relocated under housing plan

ALMOST 5,000 people with physical and intellectual disabilities are to be moved out of residential institutions over the next seven years under a new Government housing plan.

Initial funding of €1 million will be made available to local authorities from next year to house the first 150 people moving from institutions to the community.

The national implementation framework for housing people with disabilities, published yesterday, estimates the cost of rehousing residents of institutions, now known as “congregated settings”, at just more than €15 million over the seven years.

The costs are based on an estimate of just under 50 per cent of residents needing social houses and 60 per cent of these requiring a one-bedroom apartment.

It is expected that about 200 people in institutions will require tenancy supports to help them develop the skills for independent living, as will many of the 1,177 people who are currently living in low and medium support community residences, who will also become local authority tenants.

While €1 million is initially being made available, the annual cost of the relocations is expected to be €2.8 million.

The new social housing will primarily be delivered through leasing arrangements. Within the current economic circumstances, and in light of existing pressures on local authority housing lists, it will not be possible to meet the needs of all those who are estimated to require new social housing provision over the next seven years from within current social housing budgets, the report said.

“The absence of dedicated funding to support the housing needs of these individuals would give rise to a displacement effect occurring for people who are currently on local authority housing waiting lists with an assessed housing need.”

While the resources currently available within the disability sector would be used in the most “appropriate and efficient manner” the report said, additional sources of funding must be identified to support delivery within the proposed timescales.

Publishing the report, Ministers of State for Housing and for Disability, Jan O’Sullivan and Kathleen Lynch, said they would be working together to source funding.