The Council of Ministers yesterday approved the process of purchasing five buildings from the Department of Social Integration of Persons with Disabilities of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance for the purpose of using them as assisted living houses for persons with severe disabilities.
The Cabinet also approved the establishment of a four-member Committee of Directors-General to finalize and make a final decision on the five buildings selected for purchase, their purchase value and the terms of the purchase agreement.
The purchase of the five buildings is included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Republic of Cyprus and the expenditure of €2.4 million is financed by the European Union.
Both the purchase of the houses and the operation of assisted living programmes are actions to implement the Government's policy to support persons with disabilities to live integrated in the community and not to be marginalised/institutionalised, as included in the National Disability Strategy 2018-2028 and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
In this context, eleven supported living houses have already been opened, co-funded by the European Social Fund, in 2020 and 2021 for 45 people with intellectual disability, autism and visual impairment.
The houses are the homes of these people, who live together in small groups of 2-5 people with access to supportive care services, personal assistance, education, accompaniment, communication support, entertainment, socialization.
The expenditure for the project through the European Social Fund amounted to €2.8 million until 2020 and a further €20 million was budgeted for the period 2021-2027.
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