The Government is committed to responding more quickly and on a larger scale to social housing support needs through a variety of mechanisms, including through increased provision of social housing. Delivery of social housing will be significantly facilitated through more flexible funding models such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme and leasing, but the Government is also committed to developing other funding mechanisms that will increase the supply of permanent new social housing. Such mechanisms will include options to purchase, build to lease and the sourcing of loan finance by approved housing bodies for construction and acquisition. There is also obvious potential, across a range of housing programmes, for the Government's objective of sourcing and providing suitable residential units for use as social housing to be aligned with the commercial objectives of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA). Delivery of new social housing by the voluntary and cooperative housing sector is identified in the housing policy statement as a key supply source into the future.
To date, the HFA has received twelve applications for Certified Borrower status and awarded status to four bodies. The Agency has received four applications for 98 social housing units in total (at a valuation of €13.4 million), two of which have been approved and the other two are pending a decision by the Agency's Credit Committee. It is envisaged that further lending will be generated for the Agency in 2012, under this Scheme, with more AHBs applying for Certified Body status and subsequent loan applications for social housing schemes.
I am conscious that the move from capital funded programmes of construction and acquisition by approved housing bodies to more revenue funded options presents challenges for them. 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. 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.