Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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644. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of dwellings that have been acquired under the mortgage-to-rent scheme by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14359/21]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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645. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of dwellings that have been acquired under the mortgage-to-rent scheme in each of the years 2016 to 2020, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14360/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 644 and 645 together.

The Mortage to Rent (MTR) scheme introduced in 2012 for borrowers of commercial lending institutions is targeted at those households in mortgage arrears who have had their mortgage position deemed unsustainable by their lender under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP), who agree to the voluntary surrender of their home and who have very limited options, if any, to meet their long-term housing needs themselves.  In addition, the household must be deemed eligible for social housing support.

Since the introduction of the private MTR scheme in 2012 to the end of December 2020, 1,004households with unsustainable private mortgages have completed the MTR process.  The 1,004 households in the scheme represent 1,688 adults and 1,522 children who have remained living in their homes and communities.  There are currently 1,212active cases being progressed under the scheme. The Housing Agency publishes, on a quarterly basis, detailed statistical information on the operation of the MTR scheme including a local authority status report which shows a breakdown of the number of active, completed, ineligible and terminated cases per local authority.  This information is available on the Agency's website at the following link: www.housingagency.ie/housing-information/mortgage-rent-statistics.

A review of the MTR scheme undertaken in 2017 introduced a range of improvements to the eligibility criteria and its administration. In order to increase awareness and understanding of the scheme a new website, www.mortgagetorent.ie, was developed.  In addition, new structures and arrangements were put in place to encourage a greater number of entities to take part in the scheme.  As a result of the improvements implemented, an upward trend in case completions has been evident since 2018.

Building on the significant improvements already made to the scheme since 2017 and in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government to strengthen the scheme and ensure that it is helping those who need it, my Department is currently working closely with the Housing Agency to identify any further improvements required to the scheme.

A MTR scheme was also introduced for local authority borrowers and has been in place nationally since 2014.  Under the scheme, a local authority can acquire ownership of properties with unsustainable local authority mortgages, thus enabling the household to remain in their home as social housing tenants.  Information in relation to the Local Authority MTR scheme from its inception in 2013 to end 2020 and broken down by local authority area is available on my Department's website under the heading Local Authority Mortgage to Rent at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/42d2f-local-authority-loan-activity/#local-authority-mortgage-to-rent-scheme During that period, a total of 532 households had benefited from the scheme.

Both MTR schemes are established parts of the overall suite of social housing options and are important parts of the mortgage arrears resolution process.