Under Actions 1.1, 2.5 and 5.6 of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, the Housing Agency is actively engaged with banks and investment companies in relation to its acquisitions programme. The Agency has been tasked with establishing a revolving fund to acquire some 1,600 units over the period to 2020 for social housing use.
In accordance with the Agency’s profile of expenditure and the arrangements in place between my Department and the Agency for the management of the Fund, €70 million has now been drawn down. As of 30 June 2017, the Agency had signed contracts for 362 dwellings and 259 of these purchases have closed. In addition, the Agency has had bids accepted by vendors on a further 100 dwellings.
The process of selling properties on to Approved Housing Bodies is underway. As of 30 June 2017, the Agency had signed purchase option agreements for 242 properties with Approved Housing Bodies, with the closure of these approved sales, and the consequent replenishment of the Acquisition Fund, expected to commence in September.
The average cost per unit of the units purchased to date is approximately €166,500.