Cllr William Carey has accused the government of incompetence in the roll out of its “affordable home purchase scheme”. Cllr Carey said that he had learned recently that the banks were rejecting mortgage applications from would be buyers on the basis that “ they were availing of the affordable housing scheme”. Cllr Carey added that it beggars believe that the government would roll out its flagship proposal on housing and not have an agreement in place with banks for its implementation.
SDCC recently announced its first pilot programme for the government’s affordable housing by offering 16 homes at Kilcarberry in Clondalkin. Sixteen families were subsequently offered these homes. A number of potential buyers have been in touch with me directly explaining that they have been refused mortgages by pillar banks on the grounds that they are purchasing a Council affordable home. However, it now seems that the Banks have yet to reach agreement with the government or SDCC to allow for mortgages for these homes. I requested information from SDCC about this and they informed me that they had been assured by government that the banks would be supplied with all the relevant information required to approve these home loans and that this was disappointing news to them. Young families have applied for these houses and are now seriously concerned that their hopes have been dashed at the first hurdle due to this governments incompetence.
Cllr Carey concluded by saying the government were treating these young families very shabbily by not ensuring that the banks, which government have a large stake in, were aware of the logistics around its proposed scheme. “Quite honestly I find the whole thing an absolute fiasco”.
