Local 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.
The details of the revised grant scheme will be published by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien TD after this week’s Cabinet meeting.
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, helping to ease the housing pressure in many parts of the country. In addition, these properties may also be eligible for energy retrofitting grants of €30,000.
The Regional Group of Independent TDs 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”.
The application form can be accessed at Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant or on the local County Council website.
