There are currently 450 AHBs registered with AHBRA. My Department does not hold information on organisations that may have registered as AHBs in the past but are no longer on the register. The Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act makes it an offence for a person, other than an AHB as defined in the Act, to describe themselves as or hold themselves out to indicate that they are, an AHB.
Certain information on the operations of AHBs is collected by AHBRA as part of its annual monitoring programme. This information is published as part of its sectoral analysis report and the report for 2022 can be accessed on the AHBRA website at the following link: www.ahbregulator.ie/app/uploads/2023/05/AHBRA-Sectoral-Analysis.pdf According to the report, figures self-reported by AHBs indicate that 3,255 units are out of mortgage as at 31st December 2021.
In relation to units funded by my Department under the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS) and the Capital Loan and Subsidy Scheme (CLSS), the mortgages are held between the local authorities and the AHBs. My Department is not a party to these legal documents and accordingly, it does not hold the information requested on individual AHBs.
The AHB Unencumbered Units Working Group was established to consider the impact of AHB properties reaching the end of their mortgage/charge period or becoming ‘unencumbered’ and to look at the possible options on how to ensure the continued use of these units for social housing.
The report of the AHB Unencumbered Units Working Group will be published in the coming weeks.
