Ms Ailbhe McLoughlin:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee for inviting the Irish Council for Social Housing and the Housing Alliance to address the committee on this piece of legislation. I am the director of policy for the Irish Council for Social Housing. I am accompanied by Dr. Donal McManus, chief executive officer, and Ms Lyndsey Anderson, housing policy specialist on social and affordable delivery. On behalf of the Housing Alliance, we have Brian O’Gorman, chief executive officer of Clúid Housing; Orla Cleary, chief governance and legal and people officer, Tuath Housing; and Ms Rosemary Hennigan of Tuath Housing.

Housing associations, also known as approved housing bodies, AHBs, work collaboratively with our colleagues in both the local authority sector and the private sector to deliver good quality homes for those who need them. As a sector, we have delivered more than 40% of all new social housing in recent years. In addition, our members have also played a central part in the delivery of the new cost-rental programme, being the first providers to deliver cost-rental homes in the State. As it stands, AHB cost-rental output for 2024 is expected to total 1,168 homes. As part of the roll-out of more mixed tenure developments, more of our members will become involved in the delivery of cost-rental homes.

As a sector, we welcome the publication of this Bill. Part 2 of the Bill, which will amend the Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019, is hugely important to our sector. We understand the committee appreciates how urgent it is that these amendments to the Act are passed as soon as possible to ensure AHBs remain registered and under the regulator’s remit. Under the current legislation, all AHBs were deemed to be registered, with this designation ending on a phased basis depending on the size of the AHB. For the largest tier-3 bodies, this designation has already ended. Currently all of these bodies are benefitting from an extension, granted by the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority, AHBRA, due to the restrictive nature of the current registration eligibility process outlined in the legislation. If this amending legislation is not passed before the end of 2024, a larger cohort of smaller-and-medium sized AHBs will be impacted, as their deemed status ends in December 2024. By this date, they must either have registered or requested an extension to do so.

Part 3 will amend the Affordable Housing Act 2021. As the committee is aware, cost-rental accommodation is a relatively new tenure. The AHB sector has been to the forefront of the roll-out of this accommodation. This Bill references multi-occupancy or house share changes, allocations plans and cost-rental tenant in situ. Facilitating house sharing in cost-rental homes is welcome, as it widens access to cost-rental homes to a wider cohort of people. We welcome the commitment made by the Minister in the Dáil this week to allow for the introduction of individual income eligibility requirements for shared households through regulations.

The Bill appears to keep the lottery system in place as a default option while allowing for more flexibility in determining how to allocate cost-rental homes. This is positive in terms of allowing more flexibility for individual cost-rental landlords. We await further detail on all of this, especially the rent and lottery system, and we look forward to engaging with the Department.