Vol. 543 No. 2
502 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he will make arrangements whereby tenants of houses provided by voluntary housing groups and organisations will be enabled to purchase those houses; his views on whether those tenants should be entitled to own their own houses; his further views on whether a tenant purchase scheme should be introduced in these cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26297/01]
I assume the question refers to housing provided by voluntary housing bodies with funding from my Department's voluntary housing rental subsidy and capital assistance schemes.
There is no provision in the voluntary housing schemes for the purchase of individual houses by tenants. This policy is being maintained at this stage of the development of the voluntary housing sector in Ireland because it is considered that the sale of individual housing units would undermine the capacity and resources of voluntary housing bodies to manage and maintain their estates and to continue to provide further housing projects to meet pressing needs.
Residents of rental subsidy houses of more than one year's duration who wish to become owner-occupiers may, on surrendering their house to the approved body, qualify for the following benefits: a special mortgage allowance of £9,000 over five years to assist with mortgage repayments; the shared ownership scheme or a local authority housing loan without having to satisfy the income eligibility criteria; improvement works in lieu scheme in respect of the dwelling they are acquiring; the low cost housing sites scheme where they are providing a new house. Full details of these options are available from local authorities.
