Older Persons Housing scheme shelved

Hannah Kate Costello

The Government has shelved a scheme allowing older people to downsize their homes.

Councils have been told to stop running the Older Persons Housing Financial Contribution scheme while the Housing Agency reviews it.

The scheme supported older homeowners to sell their house to the local authority in exchange for smaller, more suitable social housing.

Speaking with Newstalk, Camille Loftus from Age Action says the scheme was not popular: "They would contribute a very large proportion of the equity in that home to the council in exchange for an allocation for social housing."

"For which they would still pay rent. In terms of the scheme, they were pretty unattractive in the equity contribution that was required. Of course, there is a severe shortage of social housing, particularly smaller and age-friendly social housing."