Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 9 March 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020 (Resumed): Land Development Agency

Mr. John Coleman:

The difference comes down to scale. This is not a massive country. We have many different local authorities. We would like to develop repeatable processes and repeatable approaches to financing. One can get better value for money when it comes to finance. If one borrows, for example, one can borrow at much cheaper rates at scale than one can on individual projects. It is much easier for lenders such as the European Investment Bank to understand what we are offering, as opposed to dealing with a multitude of individual operators. For something like cost rental, in particular, it makes a great deal of sense. We are consolidating our efforts here for all of our colleagues who are producing affordable housing. That is where I see the big benefit - the scale, repeatability of processes and the ability to move nimbly on matters such as the financing of cost rental, which we have the ability to do.

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