Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018
1762. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the position regarding proposals for a new mortgage to rent scheme; the number of persons that are expected to be approved under this scheme in 2018, 2019 and 2020; his plans to have a pilot scheme several years after the original scheme; when the new scheme will be fully operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1249/18]
View answer1763. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of applications received in respect of the mortgage to rent scheme in each of the years since its inception to the end of 2017; the number approved in each year; the number that were completed in each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1250/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1762 and 1763 together.
The Housing Agency publishes, on a quarterly basis, detailed statistical information on the operation of the MTR scheme, including the number of applications received and completed transactions. This information is available on the Agency's website at the following link:
https://www.housingagency.ie/our-services/housing-supply-services/mortgage-to-rent.aspx .
Following a Review of the Mortgage to Rent (MTR) Scheme, published on 8 February 2017, a range of amendments to the eligibility criteria and administration of the MTR scheme came into effect to enable more properties to qualify and to make the scheme more flexible and accessible to borrowers. The Review, available at the following link: http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/changes-in-mortgage-to-rent-scheme/, explored the impediments to participation in the scheme and recommended a number of actions to make the scheme work better for borrowers.
My Department and the Housing Agency are working with all stakeholders to ensure that the actions set out in the Review are being effectively implemented to benefit a greater number of households. I am providing an additional €5m for the MTR scheme this year, which will support at least 250 additional MTR cases to be completed by AHBs working together with lenders using the existing MTR scheme.
The MTR Review also concluded that the current financial model of the MTR scheme may not, in its current configuration, be capable of delivering the scale of successful cases that could benefit from the scheme over time. In order to test the operability of alternative funding models for the scheme, the Housing Agency has been working with a number of financial entities who have expressed an interest in working with the MTR scheme to progress a number of alternative long-term lease arrangements. In advance of these pilots and to establish the operability of an alternative financing approach, a targeted market testing exercise has been undertaken by the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA), to test the suitability of the proposed enhanced leasing arrangements to ascertain if they would be viable for a MTR cohort, taking account of the necessity to provide a long-term stable solution for eligible households.
The responses to the market testing exercise have been reviewed by the Housing Agency and my Department. A call for Expressions of Interest from bodies interested in pursuing pilot operating models was initiated by the Housing Agency on 26 October 2017. Once the Expressions of Interest process is concluded - the extended deadline for receipt of submissions is 31 January 2018 - the Housing Agency will make recommendations to my Department as to the make-up of the pilot scheme, which can then be initiated.
Following the completion of the pilot scheme and depending on its success and the availability of funding, a wider MTR scheme modelled on the alternatively funded pilot scheme, may be considered.
