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Approved Housing Bodies

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 April 2019

Wednesday, 10 April 2019

Ceisteanna (208)

Eoin Ó Broin

Ceist:

208. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of AHB PandA agreements commenced in 2018; the average length of the agreements; the average cost of these agreements; and the details of all costs covered in the monthly availability agreement payment. [16887/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Payment and Availability (P&A) funding to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) was introduced by my Department for leased properties, secured by AHBs, in 2009. It was subsequently extended to the acquisition and construction of properties by AHBs and facilitates delivery under the Capital Advance Loan Facility (CALF), the Mortgage to Rent Scheme (MTR), the Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund (HAA) and the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS). All P&A funding is underpinned by a P&A agreement, which is a template contractual arrangement between an AHB and a local authority setting out the terms under which AHBs make properties available to local authorities for the purpose of providing social housing support.

Under the Department’s leasing programme and the RLS, AHBs lease dwellings from private owners, with local authorities providing funding under a P&A agreement to pay the lease payment due to the private owner. The payment to the owner may be up to 80% of market rent, or 85% in respect of apartments with management company service charges. The discount of up to 20% on market rent paid reflects the fact that the owner has no tenancy management or day to day maintenance responsibilities and is paid for vacant periods. Under the P&A agreement, the AHB is responsible for tenancy management and day to day maintenance of the property. Responsibility for structural maintenance and insurance remains with the owner. The AHB collects differential rent from the tenant, in its position as landlord under the Residential Tenancies Acts. This rent is determined by the relevant local authority's own rent scheme. 

P&As are available to AHBs at a lower level of discount on market rent under the acquisitions and construction models supported by CALF, which includes the MTR scheme and the Housing Agency Fund. This lower discount acknowledges the increased level of risk and responsibility placed on the AHB as owner of the property, which includes mortgage or debt repayment, structural maintenance and ongoing and prudent asset management, including provision to a sinking fund. The payment under the P&A agreement in this case may be set at up to 92% of market rent, or 95% in the case of apartments with management company service charges.

The number of AHB P&A agreements commenced in 2018, as reported by local authorities, the average length of the agreements and the average monthly cost of the P&A recouped to local authorities by my Department under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) are set out in the table below. As has been clarified separately for the Deputy, P&A costs are not comparable to the payments arising under Social Housing PPP contracts.

Delivery Stream

Total Delivered

Average Length 

Average monthly P&A payment  

 CALF/HAA

2,085 

28 years 

€1,028 

 MTR

148 

29 years 

€780 

 Leasing

264 

18 years 

€765 

 RLS

20 years 

€600 

 Total

2,499

27 years 

€972 

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