Mr. Roger Harrington:

There is a commitment under Housing for All to review the fund. That review has taken place. The deadline for that was the first quarter of 2022. Having done that analysis, we came up with a proposal where we would move the fund slightly, trying to use the strengths it has built up in recent years, to set up two streams. One would be around assisting in the work on the town centre first endeavours. The second concerned assisting in terms of Housing First and homelessness. We approached the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to seek a revised sanction for that work. Unfortunately, the Department's view was that those proposals were not sufficiently distinct from several of the funding streams we have and it rejected that approach.

We have had continuing conversations with the Department regarding this approach and continued to provide it with information we received throughout 2022, but the Department has maintained its view that it was not satisfactorily distinct enough from the range of funding mechanisms we have centrally and with the local authorities. Accordingly, we are now looking at a proposal that focuses on creating additionality in social housing through the conversion of non-residential and large-scale residential buildings into smaller units. This again speaks to many of the skill sets and experiences we have built up through the operation of the fund and the team that works in the Housing Agency. We have approved this proposal internally and it is currently with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for its consideration.