The extensions to Local Authority Houses Scheme was introduced to provide capital funds to Local Authorities to finance the building of extensions to their own houses to cater for the needs of households who would otherwise qualify for inclusion in the Housing Assessment.

The scheme applies to rented local authority houses, which can be economically extended to cater for persons accepted as in need of local authority housing. It includes cases where the need is due to overcrowding, where an approved applicant not living in the house can be adequately accommodated in the house after it has been extended, and where a tenant or tenant purchaser surrenders a dwelling on being accommodated in the extended house.

This Scheme helps to alleviate the demand for Local Authority Housing as some of the demand arises from over-crowding in existing Local Authority accommodation.