Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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221. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider widening the income considered to apply for the tenant purchase scheme to include those working on community employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12126/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme provides for the purchase by eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority homes available for sale under the scheme. To be eligible, applicants must meet certain criteria, including minimum annual reckonable income and minimum time in receipt of social housing supports.

In determining a tenant’s minimum annual reckonable income, local authorities can include incomes from employment, private pensions, the contributory and non-contributory State pensions and certain social protection payments, where the social protection payment is secondary to income from employment or a pension. However, other social protection payments, including Community Employment Scheme payments, are not considered when determining an applicant's annual reckonable income.

The minimum annual reckonable income requirement has a dual purpose. It ensures the scheme is sustainable and the tenant purchasing the house has the financial means to maintain and insure the property for the duration of the charged period.

That said, scheme qualifying criteria, including minimum reckonable income requirements, are currently being examined as part of the work on the broader social housing reform agenda.