Dr. Donal McManus:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for inviting the Irish Council for Social Housing, ICSH, to engage with it today on the significant issue of the delivery of homes across Ireland. I am accompanied by Ms Karen Murphy, ICSH director of policy. The focus of our opening statement is the approved housing body, AHB, sector and land supply.

The ICSH is the national federation of housing associations with more than 260 AHB member organisations that collectively own and manage over 35,000 homes at affordable rents for families, older people, people with disabilities, homeless and single people. The AHB sector has had a commitment to developing and managing social housing over the long-term and addressing the changing needs of the population.

When the Land Development Agency, LDA, was initially announced it was very much welcomed by the sector and the ICSH. For some time, the ICSH had advocated that there was an urgent need for the strategic management of State lands with an appropriate tenure mix. In our view, when it comes to the development of valuable State assets, the public interest is best served by ensuring that a significant proportion of social and affordable housing is built on State lands. Housing associations need State lands in addition to private lands to deliver social rented homes affordably. It is a simple equation - the low cost of land should feed into lower costs to deliver social and affordable homes for the taxpayer.

We welcome the proactive role being adopted here by the State in the management of land. In particular, the ability to drive strategic land assembly is a strong power which will be deployed for the public good. Any interventions which drive down the cost of land for housing are to be welcomed and supported. In our view, the current 10% social housing mandated on land development agency sites as a minimum is too low and just matches the Part V requirements on private sites. The LDA is currently active in delivering more than 3,000 homes on State lands. We would hope that within the 3,000 homes currently being delivered the social element is significantly higher than this and we acknowledge that the LDA stated view is that 10% is a minimum.

In regard to the proposed legislation, we would sound a note of caution in regard to the commercial remit of the proposed company. While there are significant differences between the current proposal and the NAMA legislation, in our view the commercial remit of NAMA meant that the social dividend came at a commercial price. We would hope that the LDA will enable the provision of social and affordable housing at a lower cost overall to the Exchequer.

On Head 8, in regard to the "objects", we would like to see the delivery of social housing, affordable rental housing and affordable purchase as part of its remit. The LDA potentially has a significant role to play in the expansion of a cost rental sector in Ireland and explicit objectives to achieve this should be included. We welcome the register and would recommend a review of the previous housing land map to ensure all State and semi-State mapped land is up-to-date and accounted for.

On Head 9, we would like to see an explicit relationship between the LDA, AHBs and local authorities for the provision of housing and related amenities.

The LDA should have the power to enter into agreements with local authorities and AHBs, which will be regulated by the State under the new Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019. Compulsory purchase order, CPO, powers would also be a necessary addition to their functions.

Regarding the potential management of housing by the LDA, in our view that is not that body's central objective and should be carried out by local authorities and AHBs. If the LDA becomes a large-scale landlord, it will be distracted from its central functions and objectives. A question would also arise concerning the LDA then coming under the regulation of the RTB as a rental housing landlord.

The drafting of the legislation should explicitly provide for the use of the Public Appointments Service, PAS, in the recruitment of board members because transparency on governance arrangements is crucial. In addition, if we look at the nation’s changing demographics, we know that a much greater percentage of new housing must come in the form of lifetime adaptable housing. That will enable a growing number of older households to age in place. We suggest that, at a policy level, the new LDA should be guided to deliver within its plans a percentage of homes for older people, as well as accessible homes. That will assist the Government in meeting its housing policy objectives. The LDA should also have powers to set standards to support and achieve Government objectives in areas such as energy efficiency and zero carbon and lifetime housing, to name just two examples.

To conclude, and linking the future outputs of AHBs to land, last year the sector provided 3,219 social homes. That was some 38% of the national total social housing output and was the highest ever recorded by this sector. More than 4,000 households were taken off the social housing waiting list. As a sector, there are challenges to continued delivery at a high level and the availability of sites which are zoned, serviced and have planning permission will greatly assist the AHB sector in scaling up its future delivery of homes. I welcome any questions the committee members may have.