Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 June 2012
182 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if and when it is anticipated that the necessary legislation to regulate the voluntary housing sector will be put in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31444/12]
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 does present 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.
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 a regulatory framework will take time. In the meantime, I am engaging with the sector on the development of a voluntary code which, I would hope, most approved housing bodies will sign up to over time. This code, which I intend to circulate for wider consultation in the coming weeks, 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 sector. 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.
