The Government’s housing policy statement, published in June 2011, clearly identifies that a key priority for Government is to meet the most acute needs of households applying for social housing support. I am determined to ensure that the social housing programme is framed in a manner which optimises the delivery of social housing and the return for the resources invested. To achieve this it is essential that we tailor the use of available Exchequer supports to prevailing conditions and explore the full range of solutions to address housing needs.
The social housing capital budget has been reduced from €1.535 billion in 2008 to just over €333.7m this year, and the financial parameters within which we will be operating for the coming years rule out a return to large capital funded construction programmes. Nevertheless, the Government is committed to responding more quickly and on a larger scale to social housing support needs through a variety of mechanisms, including through increased provision of social housing. In spite of our challenging circumstances, a tentative projection of 4,000 to 4,500 housing units is anticipated for 2012.
Delivery of social housing will be significantly facilitated through more flexible funding models such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme and leasing, but the Government is also committed to developing other funding mechanisms that will increase the supply of permanent new social housing. These will include options to purchase, build to lease and the sourcing of loan finance by approved housing bodies for construction and acquisition. The Housing Finance Agency has received seventeen applications for Certified Borrower status and awarded this status to five bodies. The Agency has approved four applications for 98 social housing units in total (at a valuation of €13.4 million). It is envisaged that further lending will be generated for the Agency in 2012 under this Scheme.
The move from capital funded programmes of construction and acquisition by approved housing bodies to more revenue funded options presents challenges for AHBs and will take some time to be fully refined and deployed. I intend to develop a regulatory framework for the sector that will provide support and assurance both to the sector itself and to its external partners as it takes on the expanded role envisaged for it. To this end, on 8 August 2012 a draft voluntary code for the regulation of approved housing bodies was published on my Department’s website www.environ.ie for public consultation. This code will be a first step towards a statutory regulatory framework that will protect the very significant State investment in the sector over the last two decades and will provide assistance to those working in the sector to meet the challenges ahead.
There is also obvious potential, across a range of housing programmes, for the Government’s objective of sourcing and providing suitable residential units for use as social housing to be aligned with the commercial objectives of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA). My Department and the Housing Agency are working closely with NAMA with the aim of ensuring that a significant number of housing units are made available in this way by NAMA in the current year. It is open to any person or household to apply to a housing authority for an assessment of their housing need. It is a matter solely for the housing authority concerned to determine whether an applicant for social housing support is eligible for and in need of that support. The authority must make its determination in accordance with the provisions of section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, and regulations made under that section, primarily the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, having regard to the particular circumstances of the case.
