Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted that the first transactions under the government’s two mortgage-to-rent pilot schemes for distressed households are set to begin shortly.
He said the schemes, as proposed in the Keane report, one dealing with housing agencies and the other with local authorities, would involve about 500 householders.
“It is estimated that 10,000 households could be involved eventually,” he told The Irish Times.
He said an implementation group had been set up in the Department of Finance to deal with trade-down and split mortgages and mortgages-to-rent.
Mr Kenny said he had often made the point about numbers of people “having lived for the banks and existed for the mortgage”.
He knew many families were under pressure and suffering stress.
“That is why it has been necessary to take a comprehensive view of what is going on.”
Of the 769,000 residential mortgages in Ireland, about 71,000 or 9% are said to be in arrears of 90 days or more.
