Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
603. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the action he or his Department has taken to ensure that the 34 units of social housing and eight units of co-operative housing planned for Loughlinstown Drive, Dublin can proceed; if he has engaged with organisations (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2329/22]
View answerApproved Housing Bodies (AHBs) are making an important contribution to social housing delivery, as envisaged under current Government policy. My Department operates a number of funding programmes that assist local authorities to work in partnership with AHBs to construct, purchase and lease new homes and make them available for social housing. One such programme that AHBs progress construction projects through is the Capital Advance Loan Facility (CALF).
CALF funding is capital support provided to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) by local authorities to facilitate the funding of construction, acquisition or refurbishment of new social housing units. This loan facility can support up to 30% of the eligible capital cost of the housing project, with the housing units provided to local authorities for social housing use under long-term lease arrangements known as Payment and Availability Agreements. A nominal interest rate of 2% fixed per annum is charged by the local authority on the initial capital amount. Repayments on either the capital or interest are not required during the term of the loan (between 10 and 30 years), although where an AHB chooses to, repayments can be made during the term. At the end of the term, the outstanding capital amount plus the interest accrued, is owed and repayable to the local authority. The local authority issues the CALF monies to the AHB and the local authority, in turn, recoups same from the Department.
With regard to the specific project mentioned by the Deputy, I can confirm that the project did receive conditional CALF funding approval in 2019 for 34 social housing homes. While my Department has not had any direct engagement with the Loughlinstown Housing Co-Operative, it actively engages with the local authority and Co-Operative Housing Ireland. The most recent update from Co-Operative Housing Ireland is that they are currently working to progress the project to Tender stage, with expected final delivery in 2023. This project is being progressed with the support of the local authority.
My Department publishes a quarterly Social Housing Construction Projects Status Report, which sets out the continuing progress being made in advancing the national local authority and AHB new-build pipeline. The latest report, setting out the position at end Q3 2021, can be accessed at the following weblink:
www.gov.ie/en/collection/cb885-social-housing-construction-projects-status-reports/
