The scheme to help first time buyers that has had ZERO take-up in 2 years

It was supposed to give hope to those refused by the banks, but only 21 loans have been issued

A HIGH-PROFILE Government scheme which was set up to provide mortgages for struggling first-time buyers has failed to issue a single loan in two years.

The ‘Home Choice Loan’ scheme, which was launched amid much publicity at the height of the housing crisis in 2009, is supposed to provide mortgage finance to firsttime buyers who have been refused finance from the banks.

It can provide up to 92% of the market value of a property up to a maximum of €285,000 at a variable interest rate of 3.5%.

The scheme, however, has struggled since its inception, with just 21 Home Choice Loans having been issued with a total value of €3.9m since 2009.

The nationwide scheme is run by the Housing Agency and four local authorities of Kilkenny, Galway, Dublin and Cork City Council on behalf of potential applicants across the country.

In a week in which the special Oireachtas committee on housing warned that local authorities need to provide 50,000 new social housing units by 2020, the Irish Mail on Sunday can also reveal the scheme issued only one loan in 2013, two in 2014 and hasn’t issued a single loan in 2015 or 2016.

While the scheme has an impressive looking website, Home Choice Loans does not have a budget or a governance structure such as a board of directors, and confusion also reigned about who actually operates the scheme. In 2011, the cost of running the scheme since its inception was estimated at €306,000, but no estimates have been made since.

Responding to queries, Kilkenny County Council noted that there were no costs involved in running the scheme since ‘the loans are not being issued at present’.

A spokesman from Cork City Council said it was ‘operated by two staff members in the housing loans and grants section of Cork City Council alongside other duties’.

By contrast, Dublin City Council said that administration was ‘a matter for the Housing Agency’.

A spokesman from the Housing Agency, however, referred the MoS to the Department of the Environment for information on the scheme.

Environment Minister Simon Coveney has pledged to ‘continue to keep the operation of the HCL under review’.

Opposition housing spokesman Barry Cowen said the scheme is another example of how we need ‘more action and a lot fewer conversations and quangos when it comes to our housing emergency’.

Mr Cowen said: ‘The Government and the department need to get out of the habit of raising struggling home purchasers’ hopes with glossy schemes which then disappear into the ether.’

The concerns of Mr Cowen are supported by an embarrassingly low level of take-up in a number of other State housing schemes.

In 2016, just three house purchases in Dublin have been approved under the local authority mortgage-to-rent scheme, which allows councils to acquire ownership of properties with unsustainable local authority mortgages.

Meanwhile, the Approved Housing Bodies Mortgage to Rent scheme, where approved housing associations can acquire unsustainable mortgages with the aim of allowing homeowners remain within the property, has, despite receiving 3,313 applications since its establishment in 2012, only processed 162 cases.

Preliminary data from local authorities on the construction of social housing indicates that just 200 houses have been built or acquired in the first quarter of this year.

‘We need more action and fewer quangos’ ‘Raising hopes with glossy schemes’