Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 September 2021
325. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount of loans provided by the Housing and Finance Agency to each institute of higher education for each year data is available; the amount of financing drawn down to date from each institute of higher education for each year data is available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45964/21]
View answerThe Housing Finance Agency (HFA) was established by the Housing Finance Agency Act, 1981 and its function is to advance loan finance to local authorities, the voluntary housing sector and Higher Education Institutes, to be used by them for any purpose authorised by the Housing Acts, 1966-2014, and to borrow or raise funds for this purpose.
The Housing Finance Act 1981 was amended in 2016 by Section 51 of the Planning and Development (Housing) Act Residential Tenancies Act 2016 to allow the HFA to lend to Universities for the purposes of student accommodation.
Since that time almost €170 million of loans have been approved for over 1,400 units of accommodation in UCD, Trinity and UCC. A breakdown of the loans approved are set out in the table below:
|
Name of HEI |
Date Approved |
Value Approved € |
Date Advanced |
Year Advanced |
Value Advanced € |
|
UCD |
13/09/2018 |
123,000,000 |
25/11/2019 |
2019 |
60,000,000 |
|
UCD |
13/09/2018 |
12/06/2020 |
2020 |
10,000,000 |
|
|
UCD |
13/09/2018 |
25/09/2020 |
2020 |
20,000,000 |
|
|
Trinity |
06/12/2018 |
12,000,000 |
11/12/2020 |
2020 |
9,000,000 |
|
UCC |
28/03/2019 |
33,000,000 |
04/12/2020 |
2020 |
10,300,000 |
|
UCC |
28/03/2019 |
23/07/2021 |
2021 |
7,800,000 |
|
|
Total |
|
168,000,000 |
|
|
117,100,000 |
|
HEIs |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Total |
|
Loan Approvals |
€135,000,000 |
€33,000,000 |
€168,000,000 |
||
|
Loan Advances |
€60,000,000 |
€49,300,000 |
€7,800,000 |
€117,100,000 |
With regard to Housing for All, Section 3.6.3 (Facilitate Lending for Social and Affordable Housing) foresees the HFA’s role being expanded to enhance the supply of student accommodation by allowing them to lend to Technological Universities. A commitment is made to legislate for this and the relevant Action Point is 18.10.
