AN INTERDEPARTMENTAL committee established by the Government to examine how to tackle the State’s mortgage debt crisis has submitted its report to the Department of Finance.
It was anticipated the report would be published next week. This is now unlikely, however, as the report is with the Economic and Management Council, which will not be able to pass it on to the Cabinet before Tuesday week.
The group, which included officials from the departments of Finance, Social Protection and Environment, will recommend the establishment of a debt relief scheme for struggling mortgage holders. But it is unlikely to produce any other concrete proposals.
Sources in the Department of Finance have moved to dampen expectations the report will contain any substantial measures aimed at helping struggling homeowners in the short term.
Among the proposals the group considered were: plans for banks taking houses and apartments on to their books and becoming landlords; the use of social housing organisations to take on ownership of properties; temporary debt-for-equity schemes; and the formalising of interest-only or debt restructuring measures.
The committee will not recommend that banks administer any mortgage-to-rent scheme, which will come as a relief to the banking sector – which has strenuously resisted all such suggestions and insisted it would be unable and unwilling to act as landlord to tens of thousands of distressed homeowners.
The most widely flagged proposals in the report will see the establishment of a new organisation to help homeowners negotiate with the banks over loans they are struggling to pay back.
While consideration had been given to expanding the remit of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs) to give it a greater role in mortgage negotiations, the committee will instead recommend the establishment of a separate entity to guide individuals through the complexities of the process.
