A new bill aimed at improving housing services and their delivery was announced this week.
The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. John Gormley, T.D., and the Minister for Housing, Urban Renewal and Developing Areas, Mr. Michael Finneran, T.D., announced the publication of the new Housing Bill 2008.
The Bill aims to improve housing services and their delivery. The key areas to be addressed are the new Incremental Purchase Scheme, new powers in relation to Anti-Social Behaviour and the anomaly in relation to claw back which is to be removed. The overall goal is give the programme for social housing reform measures.
The Governments “Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities” policy document aims to do the following “outline an over arching vision to guide the development of the Irish housing sector over the next ten years, by delivering more and better quality housing responses and by doing this in a more strategic way focused on the building of sustainable communities.”
In a recent statement Minister Gormley said “People deserve sustainable communities and I am confident that this Bill will assist in delivering those communities. What I want to see is local solutions to suit the local needs. The current legislation on social and affordable housing, which dates back more than 40 years, has developed on a piecemeal basis. This new Bill will restore order to the ad hoc procedures that have evolved over the years.”
Minister Gormley remarked that “The Bill reflects my ambition to strengthen local democracy by re-enforcing the role of elected members in determining housing policy at a local level.”
The Bill aims to provide a mechanism whereby existing social housing tenants will have the opportunity to become owners of houses newly-built by housing authorities and other co-operative bodies in incremental steps.
Minister Finneran explained that the scheme involves the transfer of full ownership of a house to a household on purchase of an initial share of the equity. The housing authority or body concerned places a charge on the property for the proportion of the equity not paid for by the household and releases this charge in equal proportions for each year the buyer occupies the house until the charge is completely eliminated. The home owner takes full responsibility for insuring and maintaining the house.
Minister Finneran indicated that the incremental purchase scheme would also provide opportunity for the State to extract additional value from the annual capital investment in the social house building programme, as it would allow capital to be recycled quickly thus providing additional capital for more social housing without extra Exchequer funding.
The Bill also incorporates provisions to combat anti-social behaviour, which according to Minister Gormley, “can threaten the sustainability of communities and further disadvantage vulnerable households.”
Minister Gormley said: “I am looking at the scope for further changes to existing legislation that will enhance the role of housing authorities in addressing anti-social behaviour and will incorporate any further measures in this area in the Bill at Committee Stage.”
The new provisions will also rectify the claw back provisions. The claw back was intended to apply only where affordable houses were resold. The Bill will amend the law so owners of affordable housing, with the agreement of lenders, be able to re-finance or top up their existing mortgage loans, without having to pay claw back charge.
Minister Finneran concluded: “Overall, the Bill supports the creation of a flexible and graduated system of housing supports for those in need of housing, improves customer choice in order to meet changing requirements over a person’s lifetime and strengthens the powers of housing authorities as social landlords and regulators of social housing.“
The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. John Gormley, T.D., and the Minister for Housing, Urban Renewal and Developing Areas, Mr. Michael Finneran, T.D., announced the publication of the new Housing Bill 2008.
The Bill aims to improve housing services and their delivery. The key areas to be addressed are the new Incremental Purchase Scheme, new powers in relation to Anti-Social Behaviour and the anomaly in relation to claw back which is to be removed. The overall goal is give the programme for social housing reform measures.
The Governments “Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities” policy document aims to do the following “outline an over arching vision to guide the development of the Irish housing sector over the next ten years, by delivering more and better quality housing responses and by doing this in a more strategic way focused on the building of sustainable communities.”
In a recent statement Minister Gormley said “People deserve sustainable communities and I am confident that this Bill will assist in delivering those communities. What I want to see is local solutions to suit the local needs. The current legislation on social and affordable housing, which dates back more than 40 years, has developed on a piecemeal basis. This new Bill will restore order to the ad hoc procedures that have evolved over the years.”
Minister Gormley remarked that “The Bill reflects my ambition to strengthen local democracy by re-enforcing the role of elected members in determining housing policy at a local level.”
The Bill aims to provide a mechanism whereby existing social housing tenants will have the opportunity to become owners of houses newly-built by housing authorities and other co-operative bodies in incremental steps.
Minister Finneran explained that the scheme involves the transfer of full ownership of a house to a household on purchase of an initial share of the equity. The housing authority or body concerned places a charge on the property for the proportion of the equity not paid for by the household and releases this charge in equal proportions for each year the buyer occupies the house until the charge is completely eliminated. The home owner takes full responsibility for insuring and maintaining the house.
Minister Finneran indicated that the incremental purchase scheme would also provide opportunity for the State to extract additional value from the annual capital investment in the social house building programme, as it would allow capital to be recycled quickly thus providing additional capital for more social housing without extra Exchequer funding.
The Bill also incorporates provisions to combat anti-social behaviour, which according to Minister Gormley, “can threaten the sustainability of communities and further disadvantage vulnerable households.”
Minister Gormley said: “I am looking at the scope for further changes to existing legislation that will enhance the role of housing authorities in addressing anti-social behaviour and will incorporate any further measures in this area in the Bill at Committee Stage.”
The new provisions will also rectify the claw back provisions. The claw back was intended to apply only where affordable houses were resold. The Bill will amend the law so owners of affordable housing, with the agreement of lenders, be able to re-finance or top up their existing mortgage loans, without having to pay claw back charge.
Minister Finneran concluded: “Overall, the Bill supports the creation of a flexible and graduated system of housing supports for those in need of housing, improves customer choice in order to meet changing requirements over a person’s lifetime and strengthens the powers of housing authorities as social landlords and regulators of social housing.“
