Thomas Gould
Question:137. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the role his Department has taken into the review of the mortgage to rent scheme. [15218/24]
View answerThursday, 11 April 2024
Questions (137)
Written answers
The 2021 Review of the Mortgage to Rent Scheme was published by my Department on 24 January 2022 and is available on my Department's website. Since the publication of this Review, from Quarter 1 of 2022 to the end of Quarter 1 of 2024, a total of 767 Mortgage to Rent applications have been completed. A further 367 applications are being progressed currently.
Both the Programme for Government and Housing for All commit to strengthening the Mortgage to Rent scheme and ensuring that it is helping those who need it. Building on the significant changes made to the scheme in 2017, the 2021 Review examined the impact of these changes and what further changes would benefit those in need of the scheme. While the scheme was performing well, it was assessed that some further enhancements were needed to enable more households in need of State support with their long-term housing needs to avail of the scheme.
Four broad categories of actions are identified in the review, including:
a) Broadening the eligibility criteria;
b) Improving the scheme process, structure and financing;
c) Increasing communication and awareness raising; and
d) Responding to developments around mortgage arrears solutions.
A number of actions have been completed and progress is also being made under other actions within the review.
One key priority action was to broaden the eligibility criteria of the scheme and this was implemented in February 2022. These include changes to the positive equity and property acquisition limits and more flexibility on over-accommodation where a member of the household is aged 65 or over, or has a disability. Furthermore, the increase in the income threshold for social housing has also opened the Mortgage to Rent scheme to more borrowers, because households entering Mortgage to Rent must qualify for social housing support. These changes have enabled some additional borrowers, that were not previously eligible, to apply for the scheme.
An advertising campaign was conducted towards the end of 2022 under the 'communication and awareness raising' action and further initiatives to increase awareness of the scheme will be undertaken. There is also continued engagement with Abhaile, the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) and Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) to disseminate information on the Mortgage to Rent scheme.
Another action arising from the review of the MTR scheme was for the Department to consider the policy options around the scheme to ensure its continued effective operation, as well as ensuring value for money for the State. The Housing Agency, on behalf of my Department, recently ran an Expressions of Interest (EOI) process in 2023 which invited participants from both the private and Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector to put forward their interest in becoming MTR providers that can deliver the scheme at scale. 2 AHBs and 3 private providers have been appointed as part of this process and their appointments are for a period of three years. The EOI process was necessary for the long-term sustainability of the scheme and will offer lenders more MTR providers with whom they can engage and process cases with. The appointments of the 5 large scale providers does not prevent other AHBs from continuing their involvement with the MTR process on a property-by-property basis.
My Department is also represented on the newly established long-term mortgage arrears group, along with representatives from the Department of Justice, the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Finance and other stakeholders. The objective of this group is to examine the full suite of measures in place to reduce the number of people in long-term mortgage arrears and to recommend changes to increase the efficacy of these measures where necessary.