Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 December 2019
669. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the original targets for housing schemes (details supplied) from the €70 million rolling fund; and the number of units delivered under each scheme to date in tabular form. [51373/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraA key priority in the Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is to provide direct capital funding to the Housing Agency to facilitate the acquisition of suitable portfolios of properties for social housing from financial institutions and investors (Actions 1.1, 2.5 and 5.6).
An acquisitions fund of €70 million, which is a revolving fund, was established with effect from 1 January 2017 with the objective of acquiring some 1,600 units over the period to 2020 for social housing use. This has enabled the Housing Agency to actively engage with banks and investment companies in relation to the acquisitions of properties. The fund is replenished by the Agency through the sale of units primarily to the Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector and the funds received will then be recycled back into the fund for future acquisitions. AHBs utilise private finance as well as Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) and Payment and Availability (P&A) funding available from my Department to purchase these units.
Up to end Q2 2019, a total of 645 properties had been purchased by the Agency using the Fund and placed on caretaker leases with AHBs. The onward sale of 322 of these units to AHBs has been completed in full. In addition, a further 63 properties are in the process of proceeding to purchase close or being placed on caretaker leases, or transferred to Local Authorities. Overall, this activity represents close to 50% of the original target of the Fund which is intended to be achieved over the six year period of Rebuilding Ireland.
New homes acquired though the Fund and made available to AHBs under Caretaker Lease are included in my Department's overall quarterly reporting which is available at the following link:
www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.
The year by year breakdown specifically relating to the Fund and included in the overall reporting for Rebuilding Ireland is as follows:
|
Year |
No. of units |
|
2017 |
36 |
|
2018 |
481 |
|
2019 (up to end Q2) |
128 |
