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Local Authority Housing Bonds

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 September 2012

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Ceisteanna (64)

Dessie Ellis

Ceist:

64. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to work with the other relevant Departments to put in place a model for housing bonds as promised in the Programme for Government. [39063/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

With levels of capital funding for social housing reduced by just over 75% since 2008, the financial parameters within which Ireland is operating, and will be operating over the coming years, rule out a return to very large capital-funded construction programmes by local authorities. Accordingly, delivery of social housing will be primarily facilitated by more flexible funding models, with the social housing leasing initiative, in its various forms, playing a central role.The Programme for Government listed some of the options, which my Department is exploring on a continuing basis, to facilitate the increased provision of social housing, including through the mechanism of social housing bonds and the viability of utilising the value of existing social housing stock as a means of leveraging further funding for the provision of social housing. The Housing Policy Statement, published in July 2011, elaborated on this, setting out a range of mechanisms through which the Government is committed to developing 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.

Under the latter option, approved housing bodies will be able to build or acquire new social housing, remunerating their borrowings with funding provided by the Department under the leasing scheme. At the end of the loan period the approved housing body will own outright the units which will either continue to be made available for social housing purposes or may be sold to sitting tenants. A number of projects of this nature, involving loan finance from the Housing Finance Agency being used by an approved housing body to purchase new stock, have been approved. I expect this facility to be a critical source of new social housing provision in the years ahead. A range of other funding options remain under examination with a view to maximising the delivery of housing supports.

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