The Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) supports the delivery of social housing by providing financial support to local authorities for the leasing of houses and apartments. Dwellings under the scheme come from a number of different sources including private owners, Part V and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs).
AHBs are important partners for local authorities in the delivery of social housing. AHBs can lease properties from private property owners using a long term lease arrangement for a period from 10 to 25 years. This long term lease arrangement is negotiated between the AHB and the property owner and it is the AHB’s responsibility to ensure that the lease complies with the general leasing terms.
There is no current option to purchase the leased property under long term lease arrangements, however, an option to purchase may have been included in some long term leases by local authorities in the early stages of the leasing programme.
At end 2021, 1,006 AHB leased dwellings were supported under SHCEP with an average annual cost of €10,110 per dwelling. This data refers to AHB long term leases and does not include CALF funded projects.
Rental Availability Agreements (RAAs) otherwise known as Rental Accommodation Scheme/ RAS type agreements are funded under SHCEP and are agreements between property owners and local authorities to secure medium to long-term availability of accommodation over a period of time (1-10 years). RAAs are not available to AHBs.
Separately, the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) allows tenants of AHBs in receipt of rent supplement and residing in CAS funded properties to transfer to RAS. The local authority enters into a contract with the AHB to make the property available to RAS for an agreed term at an agreed monthly rent. This is a contractual arrangement, rather than a lease agreement.
