Results 3,941-3,960 of 14,943 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The agency's one-bedroom and two-bedroom units are also very expensive. The rents are actually higher than the Residential Tenancies Board figures for average rents for existing renters. I live not very far from that location. In fact, I live in a more advantageous location in terms of access to services and public transport. While I live in and rent an older building, the LDA's rents are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: But it is locked into a funding model where in order to repay its costs, surely, it has to pay down that-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: So Mr. Coleman is saying it is possible?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is not my point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Absolutely. My point is a different one. The LDA is locked in for 40 years or more. It has to recover costs I presume; although I will come back to the financing model as I have some questions on where that has gone. In a rental market, market rents are made up of two types of rent; namely, the new asking rents, which LDA rents undoubtedly are below, and existing rents. It is highly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: In the short term.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I referenced all three prices.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is not. There is a €20,000 gap between the social housing upper limit and your entry-level rate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I appreciate it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That neatly leads into my next round of questions. I am trying to understand how that equity model is working. Under the Affordable Housing Act and with the approved housing bodies, they raised debt through the Housing Finance Agency and the cost-rental equity loan they acquire through their turnkey. They charge rent, over 40 to 60 years the debt is paid and then the rent roll generates a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: How long is that return paid for? Is it a return to the LDA and held by the LDA or is there a monthly or annual transfer of the return to ISIF or somewhere else in the State? Does the LDA accumulate that return?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have two questions. Obviously that return is quite small in real terms.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Therefore, it would take quite a lot of cost-rental properties paying quite a lot of rent that would allow the LDA to deliver, for example, a significant increase in units in terms of that recycling. ISIF is giving money to the Minister, who is giving the money to the LDA. That is investment capital from ISIF. What is Mr. Coleman's understanding of what ISIF gets out of this relationship...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Exactly. That is my point. The first €1.25 billion and then the second €1.25 billion or whatever it is, that is basically money that goes to the LDA, which spends the money. The LDA makes a very minimal commercial return on that to cover day-to-day costs. That money is never paid down in the sense of a traditional cost-rental debt. Does that mean the LDA will never get what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The debts are paid down.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: But the difference is that at a certain point in time - this is really important for the long-term viability of cost rental - under the debt-financing model, debt is paid down and the AHB physically owns the unit and therefore the rent that was previously paid whereby approximately 50% of it was paying down the debt, is an additional revenue surplus from that point on. Under the LDA's model,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, and the LDA can borrow against it if it wants to borrow.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Sure. That leads me on to borrowing. Obviously the cost of borrowing is too high. How much would interest rates have to come down before it would be sustainable for the LDA to borrow, given where rents are at currently?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I understand that, but my question is a separate one. Obviously the LDA is fully State funded currently by the ISIF. The original idea of this funding model is that the LDA would be able to leverage the State fully for private borrowing. What is the rate at which the LDA could borrow privately given what the current rent structure is at?