Persons may avail of either the shared ownership or affordable schemes if applicants satisfy a local authority that they meet the following criteria: they are in need of housing and their income satisfies the income test such that in the case of a single income household gross income does not exceed €32,000 and in the case of a two income household, such that two and a half times the gross income of the principal earner plus once the gross income of the subsidiary earner does not exceed €80,000; or a person whose application for local authority housing has been approved by the local authority; or a local authority tenant or tenant purchaser who wishes to buy a private house and to return their present house to the local authority; or a tenant for more than one year of a house provided by a voluntary body under the rental subsidy scheme who wishes to buy a private house and return their present house to the voluntary body.
Eligibility for Part V affordable housing is subject to a person being in need of accommodation and whose income would not be adequate to meet the mortgage repayments on a market value house appropriate to his or her accommodation needs because such payments would exceed 35% of that person's annual net income.
At present there are no plans to review the eligibility criteria of the schemes but my Department will keep them under review.