The Government has set out an ambitious set of targets for the delivery of social housing to the period to 2021 in its Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan. A commitment to deliver 50,000 new social housing homes through a range of delivery mechanisms is being supported by a multi-annual Exchequer commitment totalling €6.5 billion over the period of the plan. These targets will be achieved using a combination of building, purchasing and leasing high quality properties to meet the needs of households on local authority waiting lists around the country.
The Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) will support the delivery of 10,000 of these homes by providing financial support for the leasing of houses and apartments by local authorities and approved housing bodies from a range of different sources. A total of 3,500 properties are targeted to be achieved using the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) which harnesses the potential of existing vacant stock and brings it back into use for social housing. The remaining 6,500 properties to be leased are intended to be secured under long-term lease arrangements from a variety of sources.
In relation to NAMA/SPV leases, NAMA has established a special purpose vehicle (National Asset Residential Property Services Limited ‘NARPS’), to take ownership of properties where there is an established demand and then lease them long-term to an approved housing body or local authority. In these projects, NAMA funds the remediation of the common areas and the completion of the unfinished units, which are often the last remaining incomplete and vacant units in the estates. When the units are complete, NARPS purchase the finished properties and lease them immediately to the approved housing body or local authority. While NAMA is consistently mindful of identifying properties which may be suitable for social housing, the pool of such properties is reducing in line with the reduction in the NAMA loan portfolio and it is unlikely at this point that significant numbers of additional properties will be identified. Information in relation to NAMA delivery for social housing is available on the website for the Housing Agency at the following link:
www.housingagency.ie/Housing/media/Media/Social%20Leasing%20Library/NAMA%20Status%20Reports/Breakdown-by-County-October-2017.pdf.
The number of dwellings supported by the SHCEP in each of the years 2014 to Q3 2017, in the categories sought, are set out in the table below:
Table 1: Delivery 2014 - 2017
Type of lease
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017 (up to end Q3)
|
AHB/LA Lease
|
626
|
652
|
574
|
413
|
NAMA/SPV Leases
|
120
|
433
|
218
|
258
|
Repair & Leasing
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
0
|
Total
|
746
|
1085
|
792
|
671
|
SHCEP funding is used to fund a range of delivery mechanisms, including those outlined in Table 1. Details of the total funding drawn-down by local authorities under SHCEP in 2014, 2015 and 2016 are provided in the Table below. Exchequer funding for SHCEP in 2017 is €84m and it is expected that this funding will be drawn down in full by year end. Data in relation to the cost of each category of lease is not available for the period 2014 to 2017. However, this data will be available for 2018 and subsequent years as a result of changes made to the systems used for the recording of financial data.
Table 2: Costs 2014 - 2017
Total SHCEP Expenditure
|
Total
|
2014
|
€34,844,780
|
2015
|
€42,275,724*
|
2016
|
€54,028,752
|
*Of this figure, a total of €7,933,651 was self-funded by local authorities.
The annual number of dwellings targeted for delivery in the 3 categories concerned and set to be funded under SHCEP in each of the years 2018 to 2021 are set out in the table below. These are provisional targets which will be reviewed regularly taking account of progress under each delivery stream.
Table 3: Provisional Targets 2018 - 2021
Type of lease
|
2018
|
2019
|
2020
|
2021
|
Lease - AHB/LA long-term lease
|
200
|
180
|
181
|
300
|
Lease - NTMA/ISIF Special Purpose Vehicle
|
1,000
|
1,000
|
1,500
|
1,500
|
Lease - Repair and Leasing (RLS)
|
800
|
950
|
950
|
650
|
Total
|
2,000
|
2,130
|
2,631
|
2,450
|
An allocation of €115m has been secured for SHCEP in 2018 – an increase of €31m on the 2017 allocation. The allocations for SHCEP from 2019 to 2021 will form part of the annual Estimates processes.