Proposed new laws will allow more people in Ireland to receive a mortgage and buy their own home, according to the Housing Minister.
The Affordable Housing Bill published by the Government aims to increase the supply of affordable homes.
It seeks to introduce three new schemes to make owning a home more accessible for regular-income families.
The first scheme would see local authorities deliver affordable homes for purchase on their lands, the second would provide the basis for cost rental homes with the first 400 delivered this year, and the third would provide funding to households unable to secure a full mortgage in the private market.
Some €75m has been set aside for this year to start the scheme, which the Government says will be boosted with additional private investment.
This will work, I’m more than confident of that
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Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said the Bill will allow renters who feel they have no options to buy a home of their own.
“This will work, I’m more than confident of that, we’re not changing any macroprudential rules at all, it is very prudent,” the Minister said.
“If you talk to renters out there at the moment, there are people paying €2,000 a month in rent who can’t get a mortgage,” he added.
“If they were able to get a mortgage, their payment would be just over €1,000. This will actually help that.”
State land
Minister O’Brien said the use of State-owned land will be central to increasing the supply of affordable housing.
“The first (scheme) is providing for affordable housing on State-owned land, so making it easier for our councils across the country to deliver affordable housing for purchase on council-owned land,” he said.
It comes as there was a 28 per cent increase in the number of calls made on Christmas week to housing charity Threshold, compared to the year before.
The group said half of those who sought assistance were in Dublin, while the other calls were made from 11 other counties.
More than a quarter of queries were about tenancy terminations, while one in ten was related to repairs.
The charity's phone operators took on average 11 calls per day over the period.
