Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 March 2012
147 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the steps he will take to ensure that voluntary housing authorities are in compliance with the relevant legislation and good governance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13394/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government's Housing Policy Statement, published in June 2011, identifies approved housing bodies (AHBs) as key partners in the delivery of social housing. This recognises both the constrained funding levels available for local authority construction programmes and the capacity and track-record of the voluntary and cooperative housing sector.
AHBs are uniquely placed to help drive the achievement of the housing supply responses set out in the policy statement. However, the move from capital funded programmes of construction and acquisition by approved housing bodies to more revenue funded options presents challenges for them. As such, I intend to develop an enabling regulatory framework for the sector that will provide support and assurance both to the sector itself and to its external partners as it takes on the expanded role envisaged for it in the policy statement and to underline its status as a viable and attractive investment opportunity for financial institutions.
I will develop this framework in consultation with the sector but I expect that it will:
assist approved housing bodies to develop key governance and management structures to facilitate an expanded remit;
provide independent scrutiny and validation of such bodies' competences; and
place sustainable housing management policies and practices at the heart of a coordinated approach to the development of the sector.
The development of such a regulatory framework which is both robust and harmonised with the varying capacities of individual AHBs will take some time. In the interim my Department is actively working with the sector on the development of a voluntary code which I expect most bodies will endorse. This code, which should be finalised and agreed in the coming months, will serve as a learning opportunity for the sector and for my Department as we develop a longer-term statutory framework that will best support the enhanced role of AHBs. I expect that the code will set out, inter alia, key basic principles of good governance and financial management and will also set out the range of reporting obligations that currently apply to the sector.
