Written answers

Thursday, 27 November 2008

Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government

Social and Affordable Housing

5:00 pm

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 145: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if the term affordable housing means affordable to the purchaser or affordable to the vendor; if his recent initiatives in this area will enable a purchaser using traditional borrowing and lending criteria to be in a position to undertake an affordable mortgage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43281/08]

Photo of Michael FinneranMichael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The various affordable housing schemes assist in achieving the Government objective of enabling every household to have available an affordable dwelling, as far as possible, at the tenure of its choice. This is accomplished by making homes available for purchase by those who, under normal circumstances, cannot afford outright ownership at full market prices.

Mortgage finance for affordable housing has traditionally been available from the local authorities backed by Housing Finance Agency lending. This continues to be the case. However, in recent times, Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank, the EBS, Irish Intercontinental Bank, First Active, Haven Mortgages and more recently Ulster Bank are now providing mortgage finance for affordable housing applicants. The entry of additional mortgage providers into the affordable housing market makes for more competition and consumer choice.

The Home Choice loan scheme announced recently is designed to respond, in a targeted way, to a very specific set of circumstances in the housing market whereby prospective first-time buyers who would previously have been in a position to access mortgage finance from one of the financial institutions are not currently in a position to do so, due to the impacts of the credit crunch. It is targeted at purchases on the open market and, accordingly, does not apply to purchases under the Affordable Housing Schemes. Home Choice will be available to first time buyers of new houses and self builds, subject to a maximum loan of €285,000, depending on income, and a maximum loan to value ratio of 92%. The loan term will be up to 30 years and a minimum income of €40,000 for single applicants and €50,000 for joint applicants will be required.

A detailed, robust and prudent credit policy governing all aspects of loan decisions, including, inter alia, requirements in relation to the financial standing of applicants, proportion of net monthly income required to make loan repayments, and employment conditions, is now being finalised. An applicant's ability to pay will also be stress-tested to assess their ability to repay at current rates and in the event of significant interest rate rises.

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 146: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of houses provided to date under the affordable housing heading; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43282/08]

Photo of Michael FinneranMichael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Information on affordable housing activity, up to the end of June 2008, is available on my Department's website at www.environ.ie. Information is also published in my Department's Housing Statistics Bulletins, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library.

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 147: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he will take to augment the public housing programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43283/08]

Photo of Michael FinneranMichael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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We have made considerable progress in recent years in meeting housing needs through the broad range of social and affordable housing programmes. In 2007 alone, the needs of almost 18,300 households were met across the housing spectrum and all the indications available to us at this stage would suggest that 2008 will be another year of significant delivery under the main housing programmes.

Looking to the future, the results of the 2008 Housing Needs Assessment, due to be finalised shortly, will show a significant increase in overall net housing need, against a background of a significantly more constrained fiscal environment. While this presents a challenging scenario, the €1.66 billion in funding provided for housing in the 2009 Estimates will allow us to maintain strong momentum towards meeting our commitments in the Towards 2016 social partnership agreement and our longer-term goals under the NDP. In particular, progress will be underpinned by the continued roll-out of the Rental Accommodation Scheme and new initiatives including the sourcing of accommodation for social housing through long term lease arrangements, and the introduction of an Incremental Purchase Scheme through which lower income households can access home ownership.

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