Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
751. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has carried out a cost-benefit analysis of the use of leasing for social housing and if a similar analysis has been carried out on the comparative cost to the State of building or buying homes to be used for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41348/22]
View answerThe cost effectiveness of Long Term Leasing has been examined on a number of occasions as part of:
- three studies/ reviews in the 2009-2011 period around the introduction of Long Term Leasing; and
- three Spending Reviews undertaken by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) Unit in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform between 2017 and 2021, with the most detailed of these spending review undertaken in 2018.
In the most detailed spending review published in July 2018, IGEES Unit found that while relative cost efficiency is an important consideration in terms of the mix of delivery, it also found that it is not the only consideration and must be viewed in the context of policy objectives and wider issues. In this context, as well as relative costs, a number of other considerations must be taken into account in terms of the overall mix of delivery including the speed of delivery, the quality and appropriateness of accommodation, sectoral capacity and flexibility.
In addition to the due diligence that local authorities undertake for leasing projects, rent valuations and sustainable communities report where required, as well as a Cost Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) from the Housing Agency is also undertaken for large long term leasing projects over €20m. The CEA is a comprehensive business case, including a multi criteria cost benefit analysis comparing leasing to other forms of delivery and weighting under defined comparison criteria.
