Sharon Keogan urges removal of medical requirement for housing grants
Sharon Keogan addressed supports for older people and people with disabilities, urging the minister to remove the medical-certificate requirement for the housing adaptation grant. She welcomed the recent budget increase to the grant and proposed measures to simplify access, fund emergency kits, expand age-friendly housing and ease taxation to retain older workers.
Housing adaptation grant concerns
She welcomed the allocation of £93 million for the housing adaptation grant and the increase to a £40,000 100% grant for those under £37,000, but said the application process remains cumbersome and difficult for many applicants.
Administrative barriers and builder shortage
Keogan highlighted that applicants must obtain two written quotes, have builders visit properties and secure doctor certificates. She asked the minister to consider dropping the medical requirement, arguing a clerk of works can assess need and that occupational-therapist and doctor certificates are often unnecessary, especially given the current builder shortage.
Emergency preparedness recommendation
On storm preparedness she said a generator for every house is impractical and recommended funding the ESB emergency kit for older people through community alert or age-friendly groups. She cited kit items such as flashlights, candles, a battery radio, a 120V car-change adapter and water as practical essentials.
Age-friendly and affordable housing
Keogan praised an age-friendly social housing scheme in Interleague located near a church, shops and a medical centre. She urged expansion of affordable downsizing and more age-friendly housing schemes to free capacity for families and support community integration.
Taxation and retaining older workers
She noted that some older people wish to continue working part-time and proposed taxation policies that favour those who want to contribute. Keogan suggested reducing taxation on pensions and making the working environment economically attractive so older people have the option to keep working.
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Sharon Keoghan, three minutes, please. Thank you, Laskaheer, and Minister, thank you very much for coming in here today. Last year, in the budget, you allocated £93 million towards the housing adaptation grant for older people and those with disabilities. I welcome that. I welcome the increase to the £40,000, which is 100% grant for those under £37,000. That was a great move, that extra £10,000. I think it is adequate. However, it can be cumbersome for the persons looking to get the housing adaptation grant. They have to get two written quotes, they have to get the builders to visit, as you probably know, we're having a builder shortage in this country at this moment in time, and getting a builder to do it is really, really tough as well. They have to get certificates from their doctor. So I'm asking you, you don't need the certificate from the doctor, you don't need any medical requirement for the housing aids, but you do need it for the housing adaptation grant. I'm asking you, would you consider getting rid of that, please? Because a clerk of works can go out, they can see if somebody is suffering from dementia, they can see somebody that was in their 80s, like Linda's father, they can see that. They don't need all of these things that you're asking for in relation to occupational therapists, in relation to doctor certificates. So if you could possibly think of dropping the medical requirement for the housing adaptation grant, that is something that I think would be very worthy. In relation to the storm, and I know there were calls here for a generator in every house, and I don't think that's practical. But in particular with the ESB, there's an emergency kit for the elderly to have on their website. And if you could provide funding through the community alert groups or the age-friendly groups for that emergency kit that's actually on the ESB website, there's things like flashlights, candles, a battery radio, a 120V adapter for car changing, water, things like that that people can, you know, go out and buy whatever. So that might be something that you might consider as well. Interleague, we have an age-friendly social housing scheme, absolutely fantastic, near the church, near the shops, near the medical centre. But we need to see other, as in affordable housing, affordable downsizing. Imagine the capacity that you'd be able to give then to families if you provided more age-friendly housing schemes in communities. Another thing that I want to raise as well, older people, some people don't want to retire, they don't like to retire, they're happy to work, they want to contribute, it doesn't matter whether it's 10 hours a week or 15 hours a week. So we need to look at how we can make taxation policies favour the older person who want to contribute so much to our society. Imagine all the CEOs, the wealth of knowledge that we are losing, you know, that could go into a charity tomorrow morning and if you could reduce their taxation on their pension. So let's make the working environment attractive economically to give the older person the option to keep working should they want to. Thank you.
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