Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an reachtaíocht seo. We support this motion and welcome any moves to discuss solutions for families struggling with distressed mortgages and desperately fighting to keep a roof over their heads. One crucial support for distressed mortgage holders is the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS. The need for such a service is not quantifiable, and many of those who have benefitted from that service can only sing its praises. We need more resources for such a service in order to provide free advice for struggling borrowers. Any such service should be funded by the banks. We also need a binding code of conduct for how banks deal with distressed mortgages. This code must include strong guidelines for banks in dealing with buy-to-let mortgages and the responsibility to tenants, who depend on such properties for their homes. We cannot allow more people to be made homeless due to a repossession or the threat of a repossession. A one-year bankruptcy period would be a positive step and be in harmony with the North of Ireland. The Insolvency Service of Ireland must be given more power to act and courts should be mandated to consider its proposals.

I will mention the continuing problems for people with shared ownership mortgages. There are 16,500 shared ownership arrangements entered into in the State. With shared ownership mortgages, half of the mortgage is paid on a monthly basis, and the other half is rented from the local authority. For the tenant or mortgage holder to buy out the local authority, the value is rising, according to today's prices, and the council rent also keeps rising. People who took up shared ownership mortgages, particularly in the Dublin region, entered into the scheme with the expectation that they would eventually own 100% of the property, as soon as finances permitted and within a short period. The downturn changed all that and many people in shared ownership mortgages ended up with considerably less income than they had when they started the scheme. This is not unusual for people with normal mortgages either but shared ownership was a scheme to benefit people who could not get credit from commercial banks and needed support to get a house.

Many shared ownership mortgages have entered arrears and many families are afraid they will lose their homes. Thankfully, some have managed to avail of the all too narrow mortgage to rent scheme.

Last year, it was announced that €20 million would be made available to bring distressed shared ownership mortgages into the mortgage to rent scheme. The scheme was slow to take off as it was very narrow and included specifications for the houses covered and a protracted process of engagement. This meant many people who would have liked to avail of the scheme could not do so or failed to do so. As of last month, just 88 mortgage to rent arrangements had been completed. These mortgages have all been taken over by approved housing bodies. Speaking to officials in Dublin City Council, only a handful of mortgages have been taken over by the council and the proportion of these that are in distress is not large.

One year on from the announcement that a €20 million fund would be provided thousands of shared ownership scheme mortgages are still in trouble. Not enough of the people affected have been able or have been encouraged to take up this process. This remains a serious issue and one which must be tackled. There is no single solution to the problem. Local authorities should be funded to take full control of the homes in question, buying out the half owned by the resident and renting it back to them, as is done under the mortgage to rent scheme. The mortgage to rent scheme must be also prioritised and residents who are in distress must be made aware of the scheme and guided through it. We also must also consider freezing or reducing rents for shared ownership mortgages to give some relief to people who have lost their job or have a reduced income and, while able to make mortgage payments, are struggling with increasing rents.

One of the main obstacles facing people who are losing their homes is securing access to social housing. Many are being prevented by local authorities from joining the waiting list for housing. More mortgage write-downs should be utilised and the option of splitting mortgages should also be applied. No one should face eviction. It is an indictment of society that eviction is considered in any case.

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