‘Tsunami of vulture fund evictions on way’

‘17k homes at risk as banks outsource dirty work’

A ‘TSUNAMI’ of home repossession by vulture funds is heading down the tracks if an alternative is not found, a Dáil committee has been warned.

Speaking before the finance committee yesterday David Hall of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation said some 17,000 people were facing the repossession over the next few years.

And he added that the banks currently selling loans to vulture funds were ‘cowards’ for not informing politicians of the severe challenges that will exist for customers.

The vulture funds, once they secure the loans, will respond enthusiastically by repossessing homes, Mr Hall said. He added that because banks did not want to restructure their loans they were ‘outsourcing their dirty work.’ ‘I believe Irish banks have taken another gamble: that it’s better to take the backlash of ‘Grave’: IMHO’s David Hall selling family home loans to vultures rather than the chaos that will ensue if they repossess the homes of customers who can’t pay,’ he said.

He said those who say that the vultures have not shown any aggression so far were ‘naive’, because those funds were watching the value of their portfolio increase month on month without having to evict anyone. This will not be so forever,’ he warned. ‘The tsunami is coming unless something radical is done.’

And he called for steps to establish a Nama-type organisation for householders. This would mean taking over loans in arrears from all of the lenders.

‘This situation is now so grave that while bashing banks and vulture funds is therapeutic, it actually misses the key issue that 17,000 families will be evicted unless an alternative is sorted,’ he said. Mr Hall predicted vast numbers would have been forced out of their homes by the end of 2020. ‘Look at the current homelessness list. Quadruple it. That is where we are destined to be in two years.’

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has been accused of being incompetence or misleading over the miscalculation of homeless figures.

Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin questioned the minister’s ability to do his job as Mr Murphy confirmed that‘ significant m is categorisations’ had been discovered while preparing the homeless figures for March and the total number of people in emergency accommodation had been overstated.

Mr Ó Broin earlier this month accused the minister of manipulating statistics to ensure the number remained below 10,000.

Mr Murphy was answering questions at the Oireachtas housing committee yesterday.

The March homeless figure showed there were 9,681 people in emergency accommodation.

However, over 600 people had been deleted from the figures for March after Mr Murphy said a number of councils wrongly categorised people living in local authority houses as homeless. Sinn Féin said these people were in emergency accommodation as they did not have a tenancy.

‘Banks passing the buck’