Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 April 2016
168. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance his plans to direct the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund to invest in social and public housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6160/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy will be aware, the challenges that we are facing in different sectors of the housing market, including social housing, are both multifaceted and inextricably bound up with one another. Within that context, policy initiatives in the area of housing must seek to address all of the various sectors of the market, including the private owner occupier market, the rental market and social housing provision.
In line with its statutory mandate, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund is examining opportunities to make, on a commercial basis, strategic investments that have the potential to support increased private and social housing output.
In the private market, the Fund is already involved in a number of important initiatives which cumulatively can make a contribution to increased housing output. This includes its investments in Activate Capital, which is an innovative non-bank financing platform that has the potential to provide funding for substantial numbers of new homes in Dublin and the other major urban centres in which demand is most pronounced; Ardstone Residential Partnership, which is a residential equity investment fund that is focused on delivering residential units to the market over the short- to medium-term; and the Wilbur Ross Cardinal Commercial Real Estate Mezzanine Debt Fund, which has funded a number of residential developments in recent months.
The Fund is also engaging across a wide range of stakeholders, including private sector investors, with a view to identifying opportunities to invest in the area of social housing. Key factors which must be addressed to facilitate ISIF involvement in such projects include the commercial viability of proposals, EUROSTAT treatment of fund structures which receive the majority of their revenue from Government sources and the ability to create off-balance sheet vehicles, outside of PPPs, which is a requirement to make proposals work. While, to date, no investable projects or initiatives have emerged, the Fund is continuing to engage proactively with possible social housing investment structures and opportunities and will continue to do so in accordance with its statutory mandate to invest on a commercial basis in a way that supports wider economic additionality.
