Covid-19 pandemic's impact on mortgage seekers highlighted at Tipperary council meeting

The unforeseen economic difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic over the past year have made it more difficult for Tipperary people to secure Rebuilding Ireland home loans, councillors highlighted at a recent monthly meeting of Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District.
Carrick MD Chairman Cllr Kevin O’Meara highlighted the case of a couple who had been saving towards securing a mortgage but over the past year have had to dig into those savings due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on their household income.
As they hadn’t been able to save over the past 12 months, their application for a Rebuilding Ireland mortgage, was “knocked at the first hurdle”. These mortgages are available through local authorities. The Independent councillor pointed out that this couple had a history of saving and paying rent and often mortgage repayments were lower than rent payments.
He called at the council meeting for exceptions to be made for Rebuilding Ireland mortgage applicants like this couple.
Carrick-on-Suir Cllr David Dunne said he had been contacted in recent weeks about four applications for Rebuilding Ireland home loans that were refused.
He asked how many Rebuilding Ireland applications were being refused and how many were getting through?
“If a person doesn’t qualify for social housing and doesn’t qualify for a mortgage through the banks, then a Rebuilding Ireland loan is the only option. But these (applications) are being refused, in my opinion, on very spurious grounds,” he said.
The Sinn Féin councillor argued it was practically impossible to save money over the last 12 months. If a person was able to pay rent of €600, €700 or €800 per month without running into arrears, they should qualify for a Rebuilding Ireland loan.
“I always thought we (the council) were the helping hand to prevent people from going into a homeless situation,” he added.
Jim Dillon of Tipperary County Council’s Housing Department responded that when people apply for a housing loan, it was the Housing Agency that decided whether the applicant can afford to pay the loan.
He explained the council can overturn a decision of the Housing Agency’s decision on a loan application but it has only done so twice.
“It doesn’t make sense for us to overturn a lender’s recommendation,” he added