asked the Minister for Local Government why £1,000,000 allocated for Dublin County Council for SDA purposes from the local loans fund is to be returned to his Department while at the same time applicants to purchase new houses are being forced by the council to obtain finance at variable interest rates from building societies.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - SDA Loans.
105.
A capital allocation of £2.7 million was made to Dublin County Council for the payment of house-purchase loans and supplementary grants in 1970-71, as compared with an allocation of £1 million for these purposes in 1969-70. The council estimate that this increased allocation will not be fully required during the year, due mainly to the effects of the cement strike. All savings are being re-allocated to meet additional demands for capital by local authorities in other areas.
I assume the second part of the question refers to the schemes of low-cost houses which are being provided by the council, under a "package deal" arrangement with builders, for sale to eligible applicants. Because of the size of the council's existing housing programmes, it would not have been possible for them to go ahead with these schemes unless they were able to negotiate loans for intending purchasers from outside sources. For this reason, a condition of the schemes was that the loans to finance them would be raised from building societies and assurance companies with the aid of guarantees from the local authority. A large number of purchasers have already taken out mortgages with building societies and have entered into occupation of their houses. The scheme provides excellent value and it is not considered that the purchasers are at any disadvantage vis-á-vis purchasers of houses not in the scheme.
While the cement strike was one of the factors causing the low number of applications for money, would the Minister not agree that the income limits for loans are too low at this stage? Would the Minister not agree to increase the figure of £1,200 at some early stage?
The income limits which apply for local authority loan purposes are under constant review in the Department. There were, of course, other factors involved. The building societies had a phenomenal inflow of funds in the past year because of the bank strike and in nearly all cases they were able to arrange loans for persons who made application, even for persons with low incomes whom they had not been too keen to accept in previous years.