Housing grant form is ‘too long and too complex’

The application form for the grants available under the county council’s Housing Adaptation Scheme is too long and too complex, officials of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad have been told.

“It’s absolutely huge!” Cllr Denis Leonard declared proposed at the district’s February meeting that the biannual clinics be held to help elderly people navigate what can be a very onerous and daunting process – especially if the applicants have at any stage worked in England, and receive even a small pension from there.

“I think we should be lobbying for a much more user-friendly form to begin with,” he stated, adding that the form can be as much as ten pages long

By way of reply, the district stated that staff from the grants administration team do attend the annual workshop organised by the Community Section.

“The District Office team assisted many of the attendees, with queries in relation to the Housing Adaptation Grants, at the most recent workshop on February 3,” the reply stated.

Cllr David Jones complained that he was aware of a number of cases in which applicants for adaptation grants had died while waiting for grant decisions.

He was critical of the fact that the allocations to each county aren’t made until around April or May.

“We should lobby government to fill up that pot at the start of the year,” he said.

He stated, however, that there are many services that assist people in filling out adaptation grant applications that people may not know about, such as Alone or Age Friendly Ireland.

Cllr Ken Glynn was also critical of the level of red tape, and what he termed “ridiculous regulations” that have been introduced in the last few years.

Mayor Mick Dollard said an onerous aspect of the application process was the requirement that applicants now get a statement of liability from the revenue commissioners – including among them people who would not even know how to turn a computer on.

Cllr Wallace said that even the local representatives are prepared to help people apply.

Cllr Aoife Davitt remarked that sometimes when people opt to apply, they have left it late, and when they do approach the council, they are quite upset and while they need help in filling in the form, there is a backlog.

Catherine Darby, council official, said that the council encourages all those eligible to apply, and explained that staff help as much as they can.

She said that the council will lobby the Department on the issues of concern, while director of services, Deirdre Reilly, undertook to write on the members’ behalf asking that the application form be simplified.