Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Since December 2011, my Department has been working closely with NAMA, local authorities and approved housing bodies to maximise the social housing output available from the properties that are part of the security for loans which NAMA has acquired. To the end of December 2015, a total of 2,000 NAMA residential properties have been secured for social housing use. This comprises over 1,400 completed properties, where tenants are now in situ, and a further 574 that have been contracted and where completion work is ongoing. A further 249 properties are considered to be active transactions where terms are agreed or active negotiation is ongoing by all parties concerned and where a detailed appraisal is being carried out. An additional 341 properties are to be further appraised. Overall, I expect that, at least, in excess of 2,200 units for social housing purposes will be secured from this engagement with NAMA. By the end of December 2015, NAMA had identified a total of 6,634 properties as being potentially available for social housing. Over the last number of years, local authorities and the Housing Agency have been working systematically through these units with NAMA to determine if there is a social housing demand for the properties identified. The result of the effort will produce, as I have stated, more than 2,200 social housing units.

There are a number of reasons why local authorities may determine that units identified by NAMA are not suitable. A small number of units were declined on the basis that they were not suitable for social housing either by virtue of the nature of the development, for example, they were holiday-type developments, the units were in areas of exceptionally high market rents or they required high management services charges and were therefore not viable. Equally, local authorities may have determined that there was no demand for the particular type of units or no demand for social housing in particular locations. In many cases, a demand for a smaller number of properties in the same development may have been confirmed with the balance declined on the basis that there was insufficient demand. Alternatively, there may already have been a high concentration of social housing units in the development and to take further units for social housing would therefore not be consistent with the authority's commitment to mixed tenure and sustainable developments. The properties under consideration are part of the security for loans that NAMA has acquired. In the majority of cases, properties remain in the ownership of the original borrowers. The remaining properties are controlled by receivers appointed by NAMA. Once a demand has been identified, NAMA makes contact with the relevant property owner or receiver to determine if the properties are still available and to discuss how these properties can be best utilised.

In some cases, while the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, initially had identified units as potentially available for social housing, when the local authority confirmed an interest in that property it emerged the unit subsequently had been sold or let by the relevant receiver or owner.

Overall, my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and I are confident that local authorities have utilised every available opportunity to secure social housing units in this way in an effort to meet the housing needs of families in their areas, including those who are homeless.

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