Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 April 2022
350. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide an update on the review of the Housing Agency Acquisition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18008/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe €70 million revolving Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund (HAA fund) was established with effect from the 1 January 2017 with the objective of acquiring vacant property portfolios from banks and financial institutions that could then be used for social housing. The target for the HAA fund was to acquire 1,600 units over a four year period to 2020 with this target subsequently extended out to 2021.
The HAA fund has enabled the Housing Agency to actively engage with banks and investment companies in relation to the acquisitions of properties. Through the provision of direct access to capital funding for the Housing Agency, the aim was to simplify the current acquisition process for vacant portfolio purchases; speed up the acquisition process and to encourage investors to make additional supply available. The HAA fund is replenished by the Housing Agency through the sale of units primarily to the Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector and the funds received are recycled back into the fund for future acquisitions.
This was intended to be a medium term initiative, targeting the vacant property portfolios of financial institutions and investment companies, in direct response to the social housing shortage that would be designed to complement, not displace, ongoing targeted acquisition activity by local authorities and AHBs.
As at Q3 2021, 888 units were delivered under the Housing Agency Acquisitions fund programme and an additional 562 properties were acquired by the Housing Agency Acquisitions team on behalf of local authorities. The number of homes acquired though the HAA 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 Housing Agency continues to engage with financial institutions and it is clear that the supply of properties that the fund was established to acquire has substantially declined.
Under the commitment in Housing For All, my Department has completed a review of the HAA fund, which investigated the challenges faced by the HAA fund and explored opportunities that centred on potentially repurposing the fund to support other initiatives within Housing for all. This review was recently submitted to me for consideration. It will also be necessary for the conclusions and recommendations of the review to be discussed with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in terms of possible amendments to the original sanction for the fund which they provided.
