Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The ongoing delay in the publication of the review on social housing is seriously affecting families and individuals who find themselves unable to secure housing because they do not qualify for social housing and do not earn enough to secure a mortgage. I am regularly contacted by people who have found themselves stuck in the situation where they cannot get approval for social housing because they earn more than the threshold allows, but who also fail to qualify for a mortgage because they do not earn enough. This is a ridiculous situation and is penalising families. It makes no sense that the majority of them are paying more in rent than they would if they had a mortgage, either privately or through a social housing programme.

The Minister committed to a review of social housing eligibility in 2017, but this review has still not been published. Unless action is taken, we are condemning people to the rental market for life. Vulture funds, which pay virtually no tax, are buying thousands of houses all over Dublin city and achieving exorbitant rents. What chance does any young couple have of purchasing a house when the houses do not even get to the marketplace?

I heard on the radio recently of a young family who were getting a loan under the tenant purchase scheme, but unfortunately the funds ran out. These people are now probably liable to lose their deposit. That is very serious and very critical. It should not be allowed to happen.

I have been calling on the Minister for years to address the anomalies in the tenant purchase scheme which make it almost impossible for some people on low and middle incomes to buy their home. Opening a pathway to home ownership is at the heart of Fianna Fáil policy, and the right to do this under the tenant purchase scheme has been an important tool in extending home ownership opportunities to low-income households. However, qualifying rules are making it very difficult for people in receipt of social welfare to qualify. The scheme restrictions are particularly cruel when older people, who may have been living in their homes for 30 or 40 years, are prevented from buying their house. It does not matter if they have saved the money to buy their home. The rules of the scheme disqualify them from participating because their current income is solely based on social welfare payments. The majority of these cases involve people in their 70s and 80s for whom the bulk of their income comes from pension payments. It is very unfair on these elderly people. They are being discriminated against because they do not have an annual income of €15,000. The houses they live in are not going to come back into the housing stock again. These people have been living in these houses all their lives, and their families have lived in these houses as well. It is very unfair. This must be addressed urgently.

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