The Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP), administered by my Department, provides funding to local authorities to support the on-going contractual costs of long term leases for housing units that are made available for social housing. These contractual arrangements - up to 30 years in duration - can be entered into with approved housing bodies (AHBs) in respect of properties which are owned, leased, constructed or purchased by those organisations or with private owners of property.
To the end of September 2017, the number of operational units under SHCEP is 9,414. The total output under SHCEP in each of the years 2014 to 2016, and to date in 2017, is set out in the following table. Details of the output of social housing units under SHCEP is published on my Department's website at the following link: http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.
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YEAR
|
Total SHCEP Output
|
|
2014
|
1,065
|
|
2015
|
1,477
|
|
2016
|
1,358
|
|
2017 to end Q3
|
1,205
|
In total, it is estimated that an additional 21,100 units will be incrementally supported under SHCEP in the period 2018 to 2021. This includes an estimated 3,350 units to be sourced through the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS), over 8,000 units under long-term lease arrangements from a range of different sources and 9,610 properties which will be delivered by AHBs through a combination of the support under my Department's Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) and private borrowings, including from the Housing Finance Agency (HFA). Properties sourced by local authorities and AHBs under long term lease arrangements, including RLS, are likely to be owned by private property owners at the end of the lease term. Properties constructed or acquired by AHBs are likely to remain in the ownership of AHBs.
The annual number of units set to be funded under SCHEP in each of the years 2018 - 2021 are set out in the following table, as well as the specific delivery streams, which include construction, acquisition and leasing activity.
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SHCEP delivery stream
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2018
|
2019
|
2020
|
2021
|
|
AHB Build & Acquisition units secured under availability agreements
|
1,800
|
2,088
|
2,617
|
3,105
|
|
Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) units from private owners
|
800
|
950
|
950
|
650
|
|
Longterm leasing from private owners
|
460
|
780
|
881
|
1020
|
|
Longerm leasing from NTMA/ISIF Special Purpose Vehicle
|
1,000
|
1,000
|
1,500
|
1,500
|
|
Total units to be funded under SHCEP
|
4,060
|
4,818
|
5,948
|
6,275
|
The annual cost of SHCEP to the Exchequer is made up of the continuing cost of supporting existing tenancies and contracts in place at the end of the previous year together with the additional cost of the new tenancies and contracts supported over the course of the year to which the allocation relates. The cost of the schemes in future years is therefore dependent on the number of housing units falling to be funded within the scheme and the lease payments involved. Exchequer funding for SHCEP in 2017 is €84m and an allocation of €115m has been secured for 2018 – an increase of €31m. The allocations for SHCEP from 2019 to 2021 will form part of the annual Estimates processes. Details of the funding drawn-down by local authorities under SHCEP in 2014, 2015 and 2016 are provided in the following table.
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SHCEP Expenditure
|
Total
|
|
2014
|
€34,844,780
|
|
2015
|
€42,275,724*
|
|
2016
|
€54,028,752
|
*Of this figure, a total of €7,933,651 was self-funded by local authorities using funding from their RAS Reserve.
