Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The 'Fresh Start' principle forms a key element in 'Housing for All' and is applied across a number of affordable and mortgage schemes run by the Department such as the Local Authority Home Loan and the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme. The ‘Fresh Start’ principle is also applied by the independently-governed First Home Scheme.

‘Fresh Start’ means that people who are divorced or separated and have no interest in the family home, or who have undergone insolvency proceedings, will be eligible to apply for such schemes. The specific eligibility criteria for each scheme must also be met.

The Fresh Start principle, as defined in Section 10 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021, allows people who are divorced or separated, or who have been through insolvency or bankruptcy, and who are divested of any interest in the previous home, to be eligible to apply for an affordable home under the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme (LAAPS).

Amendments are currently being proposed to widen the Fresh Start principle in Sections 10(3) and 10(5) of the Affordable Housing Act 2021, to allow for the previous ownership of more than the one dwelling in cases were an individual no longer has an interest in such dwellings and they have been the subject of a fresh start event such as divorce/separation.