Mr. Donal McManus:

I thank the Chairman and members for extending an invitation to the Irish Council for Social Housing, ICSH, to address the joint committee. Rather than reading through the submission we circulated, I propose to focus on three key issues, namely, the role the non-profit sector can play in addressing housing needs, the way in which the sector has responded to the financial environment since 2008 and proposals that would assist in enabling the sector to do more to meet current housing demand.
The Irish Council for Social Housing was established in 1982 and now counts more than 270 member housing associations. The not-for-profit sector manages 27,000 homes occupied by families, people with disabilities, older people and former homeless households. Approximately half the housing managed by the sector is occupied by families, with the remainder focused on groups with special needs.
Housing associations are based throughout the country and the sector includes large, small and medium sized associations. The profile of the sector is shown in Appendix 1. Since the 1980s, the number of homes managed by the sector has increased from approximately 2,000 to approximately 27,000. This expansion occurred as a result of increased State investment, better co-ordination of policies and the use of the sector's own resources, including financial resources, land and property and a significant voluntary input. Housing associations have been involved in promoting good housing management for 30 years. We have a programme in place to promote outcomes in the areas of rent collection, repairs and maintenance, voids and landlord-tenant relations. We hope this will form part of the new regulatory framework.
In terms of the response of the voluntary housing sector since 2008, the collective output of not-for-profit housing associations reached a peak in 2009 when 2,000 new homes were completed. This included a number of mixed tenure schemes where housing associations were involved in the management of the social housing element of mixed Part V agreements with local authorities and developers. Since then the annual output of new social housing units by housing associations has declined to under 500. Part of the shortfall has been filled by leasing initiatives and associated activities.
Since the downturn, capital expenditure for the sector has reduced from more than €400 million in 2008 to approximately €40 million in 2014. This reduction has resulted in a shift from bricks and mortar to revenue based schemes. In that context, the new mixed funding environment allows interested housing associations to raise loan finance from the Housing Finance Agency or private institutions. While the financing arrangements provided finance for acquisitions, it has become patently obvious that the number of properties which are fit for purpose for social housing and available on the private market is negligible. This option is no longer available.
The range of schemes in which housing associations are involved and have been actively pursuing in recent years is illustrated in appendix 2. It includes mortgage-to-rent schemes, regeneration, refurbishment and a limited number of stock transfers. Most of these initiatives have relied on co-operation with third parties such as property developers. Reliance on third parties makes predicting the supply of social housing extremely difficult.
In some schemes, it has taken up to 40 weeks to secure approval for funding. These delays in drawing down funding for schemes need to be addressed because, having invested considerable effort in the various schemes, housing associations find that the process of securing sanction takes too long in some cases.
The new regulatory framework will provide reassurance to financial institutions entering the housing sector. A development capacity survey carried out by the ICSH in November 2013 found that members believed they had the capacity to develop more than 4,860 new homes in the next three years provided three conditions are met. These are the introduction of a development programme with targets, a clear funding scheme with conditions and loan finance with reasonable terms.
Proposals have been made for the not-for-profit sector to take an enhanced role by working with local authorities to meet housing need. One of the current structural deficits is the absence in the Department of a dedicated delivery unit. Such a unit was in place until 2009 and should be reinstated to allow for better co-ordination of funding and policy arrangements to increase supply. A development programme for the not-for-profit housing sector linked to the capital advance leasing facility, CALF, would be a more proactive mechanism to ensure supply and incentivise associations that are seeking to develop new housing projects.
Other measures that would assist in meeting housing demand include ensuring nominations for social housing vacancies are turned around quicker. The nominations protocol for Dublin households should also be fully implemented. These are two short-term measures that could be activated quickly.

The ICSH recognises the benefits in principle of HAP. We have previous experience of transferring 5,000 households from rent allowance to RAS, but there was no meaningful engagement with the sector. Direct deduction at source would be useful for the housing association sector.

The ICSH believes the not-for-profit sector can play an increasing role in meeting housing need, notwithstanding those issues identified previously. It is essential to have a continual supply of social housing with affordable rents, as dependence on the private sector will not suffice in future. We see the increasing demand in the rental sector from other categories. I thank members for their attention and we look forward to their comments and observations.