Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 23 Jun 1993

Vol. 432 No. 7

Written Answers. - House Repossessions.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

77 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment the extent to which the repossession by local authorities of houses financed under the Housing Act, 1981, has affected his Department's allocation for local authority housing and the funding of the Housing Finance Agency; the total number of houses repossessed by the various local authorities; the amounts paid to the Housing Finance Agency for these authorities from their own resources; the amount his Department would have to make available to the HFA since 1987 in the absence of funds from repossessed houses; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for the Environment (Mr. M. Smith)

The repossession of houses in respect of which house purchase loans have been made by the Housing Finance Agency is not a factor influencing the annual capital allocations for the local authority housing programmes. The HFA is not funded by my Department and generally it has a statutory duty to meet its costs from its operations. I am informed by the agency that the total number of houses repossessed by local authorities on its behalf since 1982 is approximately 800. Local authorities do not subsidise any losses sustained by the HFA on repossessions. Such losses have to be borne by the HFA and not the local authorities who are allowed to recoup all their costs associated with repossession.

Where local authorities decide to take repossessed houses into stock, they may finance the purchase of such houses at their market value from the capital allocation for their housing programmes. A proportion of the capital allocation is funded from the authorities' internal housing capital receipts but it is not possible to say what amount, if any, of these receipts is utilised to fund the purchase of repossessed houses.