Increased funding of £250,000 has become available in South Ayrshire in the current financial year to help fund projects for people with disabilities living in private sector housing.

The welcome boost  for disabled grants follows a successful bid by South Ayrshire Council earlier this year for more funding to take the amount of money available for private sector housing grants in South Ayrshire to the highest level ever. 

And now, as a result of a continued effort by the Council to give grants to those who need them most, an additional £250,000 grant is on its way from Communities Scotland to fund projects for people with disabilities living in private sector housing.

Welcoming the news of the notification of the additional funding, Councillor Cherry Young, Convener of the Council’s Social Justice Committee, said: “I really am delighted.   The successful bid is good news for South Ayrshire. 

“I am proud of the high levels of service that the Council’s housing grants team provide and this additional money is testament to the commitment of staff who have worked hard to increase this year’s funding to a level that is higher than any previous year. “

Councillor Young explained: “The Council readily undertakes to provide grants to support people with disabilities living in their own home.  This additional £250,000 will mean more people with disabilities can carry out improvements to make their current homes suitable and safe. 

“It is a measure of the success of the housing grants scheme that people with disabilities who in the past might have remained in, or moved into, residential or nursing facilities have been able to choose instead to live in their own homes.”

In South Ayrshire, housing grants for disabled persons are available for various types of improvement work including:

• extensions or alterations to provide bathrooms
• provision of special sanitary fitments suitable for a disabled person
• widening of door openings to permit wheelchair manoeuvre
• installation of a stairlift

It is not intended that disabled grant should be made available for the provision of "portable equipment" - responsibility for such provision rests with social work or health authorities.
Anyone who would like further details on housing grants for people with disabilities should make contact with either:

South Ayrshire Council Building Standards Service, Burns House, Burns Statue Square, Ayr, KA7 1UT,  tel: 01292 616656 or 01292 616309. E-Mail: Building.Standards@south-ayrshire.gov.uk

or

South Ayrshire Care and Repair, Unit 2, Beresford Court, 6 Beresford Lane, Ayr KA7 2DW, tel: 01292 281813. E-Mail: sacareandrepair@dsl.pipex.com

Information is also available on the Council’s website: www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/buildingstandards/grants_disabled.htm