Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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379. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of mortgage to rent schemes approved by local authorities since 2018. [8312/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme was introduced in 2012 for borrowers of commercial lending institutions and 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. 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.

To the end of December 2021, 1,682 households with unsustainable private mortgages have completed the MTR scheme since its introduction nationally in 2013. The 1,682 households in the scheme represent 2,738 adults and 2,274 children who have remained living in their homes and communities. As of that date, 720 active cases were being progressed under the scheme. The Housing Agency publishes, on a quarterly basis, detailed statistical information on the operation of the MTR scheme on the Housing Agency's website at the following link: www.housingagency.ie/housing-information/mortgage-rent-statistics

The Mortgage to Rent scheme is administered on the Department’s behalf by the Housing Agency, who coordinate with all stakeholders to ensure each application meets the eligibility criteria. The scheme, by its very nature, involves multiple stakeholders and it is essential for the efficient operation of the scheme that all stakeholders complete their individual roles within the MTR process. Local authorities are one of these stakeholders and play a vital role within the Mortgage to Rent scheme. The local authorities assess the household to see if they are eligible for social housing support and also check certain aspects of the application including if the property is suitable for the scheme and if the rent stated is appropriate.

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, broken down by local authority area, is available on my Department's website under the heading Local Authority Mortgage to Rent at the link below. During that period, a total of 532 households had benefited from the scheme. Information relating to 2021 will be made available shortly.

www.gov.ie/en/collection/42d2f-local-authority-loan-activity/#local-authority-mortgage-to-rent-scheme > refer to the section “Local Authority Mortgage to Rent 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.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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380. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the overall total payment by each local authority to an organisation (details supplied) in each of the years 2018 to 2021. [8313/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme was introduced in 2012 for borrowers of commercial lending institutions and 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. 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.

In the case of the private MTR provider, they enter into a long-term lease arrangement with the local authority in whose area the property is situated for a defined term at an agreed rent, thereby enabling the borrower to remain living in their own home under a tenancy agreement with the local authority.

The table below outlines the total payment made by the Department to each local authority under the Private Mortgage to Rent scheme in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. There were no payments made in 2018.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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381. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if approved housing bodies are required to retain local authority tenants under the mortgage to rent scheme for life. [8314/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme was introduced in 2012 for borrowers of commercial lending institutions and 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. 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.

When the borrower becomes a tenant of an Approved Housing Body (AHB), they sign a tenancy agreement. The current arrangement on the property can be for up to 30 years.

Regardless of who the property owner is under the MTR scheme, AHB or Home for Life Ltd., the local authority is obliged to meet the housing needs of social housing tenants indefinitely and beyond the term of the applicable lease arrangement. Therefore, if appropriate, the tenant may continue to have their housing needs met by the AHB, beyond the term of the lease agreement or alternative housing will be secured for them by the local authority.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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382. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the way that funds are distributed between an organisation (details supplied) and local authorities in a situation whereby a tenant is able to repurchase their home from the mortgage to rent scheme. [8315/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme was introduced in 2012 for borrowers of commercial lending institutions and 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. 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.

In cases where the property is sold to a private company, the local authority becomes the landlord and the borrower remains in the property as a tenant paying a differential rent to the local authority based on his or her income. If the borrower can obtain finance for the purchase of their home they can buy back the property. If the borrower is successful in purchasing back their property, the monthly lease arrangement payment between the local authority and the Mortgage to Rent provider will cease immediately. Private funding is used to purchase properties obtained by the private company in the MTR scheme and therefore no capital finance is required to be repaid to the State.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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383. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his views on whether local authorities should only use private operators in the mortgage to rent scheme as a last resort. [8316/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme was introduced in 2012 for borrowers of commercial lending institutions and 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.

The decision on who purchases each property under the MTR scheme is not made by the local authority. The borrower surrenders their property to their lender and it will be then sold to the MTR provider who is interested in the property. This can be either an Approved Housing Body (AHB) or since 2018 a private company, Home for Life Ltd. If more than one party is interested in buying the property, the lender will provide information to the borrower around the options available to them and the borrower will make the decision on who purchases the property.

A review of the MTR scheme took place in 2017 and explored the avenues and impediments to participation in the scheme. Along with introducing a range of amendments to the eligibility criteria and administration of the MTR scheme, the review concluded that the financial model of the scheme at the time may not have been capable of delivering the scale of successful cases that could benefit from the scheme. The review, taking account of capacity within the AHB sector given that sector's role in delivering ambitious targets around new social housing supply, recommended that alternative funding options, including the off-balance sheet potential of private institutional investment, be explored in order to allow the MTR scheme to deliver at scale. An Expressions of Interest (EOI) Request was initiated by the Housing Agency in October 2017 inviting parties from the private sector to express their interest in participating in a new alternatively funded long-term MTR lease model. The outcome from the EOI process is that a new MTR alternatively funded lease model was announced in 2018 with Home for Life Ltd. as the participant from the private sector.

The inclusion of an MTR provider from the private sector has had a positive impact on the number of completed cases since its entry into the scheme and up to the end December 2021, has facilitated 672 families (40% of all MTR cases) to stay in their homes. Given the sizeable cohort of borrowers still in long-term mortgage arrears, all the MTR providers participating in the scheme are needed in order to meet the demand for the scheme. In all scenarios, my Department and the Housing Agency are focused on meeting the long-term housing needs of the greatest number of households in unsustainable mortgage arrears.