Applications open for €50,000 grant to refurbish empty homes

TD Denis Naughten has welcomed the announcement that families can now apply for a grant of €50,000 to refurbish a home that has been vacant for two years, with an additional top-up grant available if the property is derelict.

Details of the revised grant scheme are expected to be published by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien after this week’s Cabinet meeting.

Deputy Naughten explained that, up to now, this grant was only available for those wishing to live in that refurbished property, but once refurbished it can now be rented out, which could help ease the housing pressures affecting the country.

In addition, these properties may also be eligible for energy retrofitting grants of €30,000, .

Deputy Naughten is part of the Regional Group of Independent TDs. The group put forward proposals last month to enhance the refurbishment scheme, which were taken up by Government, and it is hoped that some of the up to an estimated 160,000 properties that are vacant will now be opened up for renters.

"The original grant for refurbishing a vacant home was a proposal which I brought to Minister Darragh O’Brien and, to his credit, he introduced this new grant scheme last year which is open to applications for any person who is willing to rent out the property that has been vacant for two years," stated Denis Naughten.

"In my own constituency of Roscommon and East Galway alone there are an estimated 6,000 vacant homes in our towns, villages and rural areas and with this grant there is an opportunity to bring young families back onto streets and into townlands that have not had a football kicked on them in a generation.

"Not only will this help to ease the housing pressures in the short term but will also help to secure the viability of primary schools and other local services.

"It clearly shows that individual TDs can make a real difference when they are willing to work with Government Ministers and when Ministers are willing to engage with constructive proposals."

The application form can be accessed here, or on the local county council website.