Written answers

Tuesday, 14 December 2021

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Housing Schemes

Photo of Eoin Ó BroinEoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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327. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of social housing tenancies created to date in 2021 under the long-term leasing scheme, the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. [61897/21]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department publishes comprehensive statistics on social housing, including Leasing, Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), on a quarterly basis.

Long term leasing forms part of the overall social housing leasing delivery which also includes delivery streams such as Mortgage to Rent Scheme, the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) and the Enhanced Leasing Scheme. At the end of Q3 2021, a total of 1,576 homes have been delivered through the social housing leasing delivery stream, of which 948 homes have been delivered through long term leasing.

Statistics in relation to HAP and RAS can be found at the following link under the relevant headings: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/.

Under the Housing for All strategy, the Government plans to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 homes per year over the next decade, including an average of 10,000 new build social homes. As new build supply of social housing ramps up, there will be reducing reliance on HAP and RAS.

Long Term Leasing will be phased out by 2025. This process is already underway and my officials have begun engaging with local authorities in this regard.

Photo of Eoin Ó BroinEoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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328. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of new mortgage to rent tenancies funded by his Department from the start of 2021 to date. [61898/21]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme introduced in 2012 is targeted at supporting households in mortgage arrears who have had their mortgage position deemed unsustainable by their lender under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP); agree to the voluntary surrender of their home and are deemed eligible for social housing support. The property in question must also meet certain eligibility criteria. The concept of the scheme is that a household with an unsustainable mortgage goes from being a homeowner to being a social housing tenant. The borrower surrenders their property to their lender who sells it to a MTR provider which can be either an Approved Housing Body (AHB) or since 2018 a private company, Home for Life Ltd. The AHB or local authority (in the case where the property is sold to a private company) becomes the landlord and the borrower remains in the property as a tenant paying a differential rent to the landlord based on his or her income.

From the start of 2021 to the end of September 2021, 493 households, with unsustainable private mortgages have completed the MTR scheme. Since its introduction nationally in 2013, a total of 1497 cases have been completed up to the end of September 2021. As of that date, 850 active cases were also being progressed under the scheme. The Housing Agency publishes, on a quarterly basis, detailed statistical information on the operation of the MTR scheme which shows a breakdown of the number of active, completed, ineligible and terminated cases. This information is available on the Housing Agency's website at the following link: www.housingagency.ie/housing-information/mortgage-rent-statistics.

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