The Department of the Environment and Local Government is to establish a housing unit to deal with all aspects of non-profit, voluntary and co-operative housing.
This was announced yesterday by the Minister of State at the Department, Mr Bobby Molloy, at the biennial conference of the Irish Council for Social Housing in Limerick.
He told 300 delegates that bodies involved in the voluntary sector would have direct access to this unit within the housing division. The unit would be headed by the principal officer with the necessary support staff.
The new unit will develop the voluntary sector and play a key role in identifying and securing changes to various procedures and schemes to facilitate increased activity in voluntary housing. It will also tackle problems and work to remove obstacles to progress in the provision of voluntary housing output.
Mr Molloy also announced revised limits for the capital assistance scheme and the rental subsidy scheme.