Latest news on grants

Our funding shortfall has been caused by the collapse of the property market over the last eighteen months and the subsequent reduction in receipts from house sales.

With the funding shortfall, we have had to prioritise our workload and providing new homes for rent is our main priority. Other housing programmes, including grants, have been affected by this shortfall.

It is necessary to significantly curtail grants and we expect to issue 2,000 approvals this year compared to over 7,000 normally. In the absence of more funding, this is unavoidable.

• The Disabled Facilities Grants scheme will continue to operate normally and will be unaffected.

• Mandatory Repair Grants will continue to operate and will be unaffected.

• All approved grants applications will continue as normal.

• Applications for HMO grants, where work has started, will be unaffected.

• All Group Repair Schemes are being put on hold.

• We expect that applications for discretionary grants including Renovation Grants, Replacement Grants, Home Repair Assistance Grants, LOTS Grants and HMO Grants may only be approved in exceptional circumstances.

• Discretionary grant applications already in our system which have not been approved are, in general, unlikely to be approved unless sufficient funds become available.

We do not want to raise expectations about the availability of grants or have people incur costs unnecessarily and therefore it is not appropriate to continue to accept any new preliminary enquiries. We will be writing to those who have already submitted Preliminary Enquiry Forms.

Warm Homes Scheme

We are the contract administrator for the Warm Homes scheme.  The scheme is funded by the Department for Social Development and is designed to help eligible households improve the energy efficiency of their homes.  For further information, visit the Warm Homes website.