Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be here to bring the Bill before the House. This Bill passed all Stages of the Dáil last week. It intends to make amendments to the Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019 and the Affordable Housing Act 2021, as well as a further amendment to the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2014, to be brought on Committee Stage in the Seanad.

The Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019 provides for the regulation of approved housing bodies, AHBs, for the purpose of supporting stronger governance and the financial viability of this sector.Section 25 of the 2019 Act provides for existing AHBs, approved under section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992, to be deemed registered on 1 January 2022, subject to applying for registration within 12 months in the case of AHBs providing or managing 300 or more dwellings, two years in the case of AHBs providing or managing between 50 and 300 dwellings, and three years in the case of AHBs providing or managing fewer than 50 dwellings. The Act was commenced on a phased basis and concerns were raised by the sector regarding the prescriptive nature of the eligibility criteria set out in section 25 of the Act.

Due to the eligibility criteria being overly prescriptive, very few AHBs would meet the criteria and, as a result, would not be in a position to register, causing cancellation of registration by the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority, AHBRA, by virtue of technically not meeting the registration requirements within the timeframe set out in the Act. In particular, a provision that "all of its property, both real and personal, be applied solely in furtherance of its primary object or primary objects specified" in the Act means AHBs with constitutional objects outside the primary object specified in the Act would no longer be allowed to use any property for those objects.

The aforementioned timelines were extended through legislation in 2022 to allow time for consideration of the issue. The Department formulated an opinion that to prevent AHBs falling out of registration due to a failure to meet the timelines set out in the 2019 Act, a more appropriate approach is to amend the Act to permanently register so-called deemed AHBs, thus removing the need to meet the eligibility criteria, rather than require an application for registration before the end of the timelines. This approach is in line with the approach taken under charities regulation. The amendment is considered necessary to mitigate against the risk of AHBs that do not apply due to administrative or other constraints, or where AHBs do not wish to be regulated nor wish to adhere to AHBRA's standards, and therefore chose not to apply to be registered, having their registrations cancelled, with both the entity and its assets falling out of AHBRA's remit and powers.

As the Act further links AHBRA's powers directly to the constitutional objects in an AHB's constitution, and the above amendment will mean AHBs are no longer required to make constitutional changes, nor to apply for registration, further consequential amendments will rectify this so that the intended AHBRA powers come into effect regardless of whether an AHB changes its constitution by, rather than referencing section 25, referencing directly a function of the AHB, namely, the alleviation of a housing need.

Overall, these amending provisions ensure that existing AHBs are permanently deemed registered and remain under the regulator's remit, with an active action to cancel registration required, and that the regulator's powers apply to all AHBs on the register.

With regard to the other amendments proposed in the Bill, the new cost-rental sector in Ireland was given a statutory footing in Part 3 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021. This legislation introduced a new form of rental tenure targeted at middle-income households above the eligibility thresholds for social housing supports, who are struggling with often-acute affordability pressures in the private rental market. The introduction of the cost-based model represents a significant contribution to the rental sector and was an action set out in the Government's Housing for All plan. Having been launched in 2021, cost rental in Ireland, while at an early stage of implementation, is working, with almost 1,800 homes delivered nationwide to the end of quarter one of this year. Building on this success, officials from my Department have been engaging with stakeholders, including cost-rental delivery partners, to assess the lessons learned to date since the launch of cost rental. Arising from this process, a number of measures have been identified that will help to support the continued growth of the sector and strengthen its legislative framework.

As outlined in the Bill, it is now proposed to amend the Affordable Housing Act 2021 to provide for the following new elements: providing for the Minister to prescribe eligibility requirements for different compositions of household; providing for allocation plans for particular cost-rental homes; and allocating cost-rental tenancies to tenants in situ. Prescribing eligibility requirements for different compositions of households will allow for the introduction of individual household income eligibility requirements for shared households to reflect the variety of household formations that now exist and provide for two or more unrelated adults to access the benefits of a cost-rental tenancy and share the cost of the overall rent. Following the proposed amendment to the Act, this will be done through regulations, which the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage will bring forward in due course.

The second amendment provides for cost-rental landlords to propose allocation plans for particular cost-rental homes. These are similar to the schemes of priority that are already provided under the Affordable Housing Act in respect of local authority affordable purchase homes. Under such plans, the process for allocating tenancies and the selection criteria that a cost-rental landlord may utilise when selecting potential tenants can be set out but will require ministerial approval before it can come into effect.The current system of allocation - a lottery to randomly sort all eligible applicants - will remain in place as a default option but providing scope for alternatives will give cost-rental landlords greater flexibility and efficiency in tenanting increasing numbers of homes.

The final amendment will provide for circumstances where a cost-rental dwelling can be provided to a tenant in situin that dwelling at the time of its designation under section 30 of the Act. Currently under the Act and associated regulations, a cost-rental dwelling must be allocated and leased in a transparent manner. This includes advertising the property. This cannot be done for obvious practical reasons when there is a tenant in situ. Therefore, this Bill proposes to amend the Act to allow for such circumstances and the designation of these homes as cost rental. I am confident these important enabling amendments will continue to support the development of the sector as delivery increases in scale, as well as providing access to cost rental to even more people.

I intend to table an amendment on Committee Stage in the Seanad which will permit the Minister for Finance, at the request of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, to direct the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, to pay a further €1.25 billion to the Land Development Agency, LDA, from proceeds of the disposal of directed investments. This amendment will make statutory provision for the LDA to access up to €6.25 billion in capital, split between €3.75 billion equity investment from the NTMA, €1.25 billion in debt and €1.25 billion from sources associated with the performance of certain statutory functions related to provision of cost-rental and affordable accommodation, development of public land, provision of socially integrated housing and engagement with local authorities. The amendment is required to protect the delivery of 12,900 homes projected by the LDA's 2024 to 2028 business plan. The increased ambition envisaged in Housing for All requires investment in additional resources beyond those provided for in the Land Development Agency Act to support the delivery of these homes. The board of the LDA cannot approve the agency entering into commitments for the delivery of these homes until it is confident it can meet financial obligations as they fall due. The additional equity funding provided for in this amendment will ensure the LDA has access to a total of €6.25 billion in capital and will be well positioned to provide affordable and cost-rental housing in communities all over Ireland and support the delivery of the national planning framework well into the lifetime of the 2024-28 business plan. I thank Senators for their consideration of this Bill.