Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Every year 4,500 people leave behind an empty home when they enter long-term nursing home care. Just 300 of these homes are rented out. Unlike the social welfare means assessment, where a capital asset when rented out is included in the calculation just once, under the fair deal nursing homes scheme, the same property is included three times in the means assessment. It takes an average of six years for these homes to go through probate, to be sold and to be refurbished. This means that 25,000 homes, mainly family homes in established communities with broadband and close to schools, are being locked out of the housing system because we place a treble tax on an older person who rents out his or her home. It makes no sense at the height of a housing crisis not to treat rental income in the same way across all Departments to ensure that it does not lock families out of accessible housing.

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