Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 April 2023
712. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the State maintains any rights or agreements with the approved housing bodies when the term of the mortgage is finished. [16480/23]
View answerMy Department, through local authorities, makes a number of funding programmes, including the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS), the Capital Loan and Subsidy Scheme (CLSS – closed to new applications since 2011), leasing, P&A-CALF available to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) for the provision of housing for social housing use.
Once these units have reached the end of their mortgage/charge period, the terms of the funding agreements no longer apply, including rent setting, monitoring and reporting responsibilities and nominations from the local authority. In addition, some AHBs have acquired units without the assistance of State funding including from fundraising, donations and bequests and utilise these units for the provision of accommodation to those qualified for social housing support.
As we have moved to the statutory regulation of the AHB sector, an internal working group, the AHB Unencumbered Units Working Group, has been established to look at options on how to ensure the continued use of these units for social housing support use. Its membership comprises the relevant policy areas within my Department.
The work of this group aims to assist my Department and its delivery partners in meeting the objectives under Housing for All, to enable a sustainable housing system in Ireland with a supply of good quality housing to match long-term needs, to promote social inclusion in our communities, and to ensure that existing housing stock is utilised to its fullest extent possible.
