Shared ownership option for council

The county registrar in Kerry yesterday directed that county council housing officers be approached with a view to agreeing a “shared ownership” options on homes being repossessed.

The mortgagees could pay some of the mortgage, and granting an order for repossession of their homes would put them on the council’s already over-crowded social housing list and see them get rent supplement from the State, the registrar Padraig Burke noted.

Almost 5,000 people are on the housing list in Kerry, according to the county council. Mr Burke called for councils to be capitalised to enter into joint ownership schemes with people who had some capacity to pay.