Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 June 2022
509. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason that receipt of long-term carer's allowance is not considered as income when applying for a local authority home loan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29615/22]
View answerUnder the Local Authority Home Loan scheme social welfare payments are not generally considered as part of repayment capacity. However, certain long-term State benefit payments may be considered as repayment income only where the main income source is of an earned nature (i.e., more than 50% of the income that forms the full Home Loan application is from a source other than State benefits payments).
Long-term State benefit payments considered will be:
State Pension (Contributory and Non-contributory);
Widow’s/Widower’s Pension;
Blind Pension;
Invalidity Pension; and
Disability Allowance.
The long-term nature of the payment must be confirmed by the Department of Social Protection or other relevant Government Department.
Carer's Allowance is not taken into account as income for repayment capacity for local authority lending. As noted above, social welfare payments may only be considered where the main source of income is earned, therefore where Carer's Allowance is the main source of income it cannot be counted.
The final decision regarding Local Authority Home Loan applications are made by the relevant Local Authority Credit Committee on a case by case basis. Decisions on all housing loan applications must be made in accordance with the Regulations establishing the scheme and the credit policy that underpins the scheme, in order to ensure prudence and consistency in approaches in the best interests of both borrowers and the lending local authority. My Department is not involved in individual loan decisions.
Further details can be found on https://localauthorityhomeloan.ie/.
