Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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27. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the capacity of voluntary housing associations to deliver social housing on the scale required; if he will consider allowing the use of local authorities to form housing associations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15681/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Social Housing Strategy 2020 builds on the provisions contained in Budget 2015 and sets out clear, measurable actions and targets to increase the supply of social housing, reform delivery arrangements and meet the housing needs of all households on the housing list. The total targeted provision of over 110,000 social housing units, through the delivery of 35,000 new social housing units and meeting the housing needs of some 75,000 households through the Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Schemes, will address the needs of the 90,000 households on the housing waiting list in full, with flexibility to meet potential future demand.

Under Pillar 1 of the strategy, an enhanced role for approved housing bodies (AHBs) in the provision of new supply will be central to the Government’s vision for the provision of social housing supports. This recognises the record of steady achievement by AHBs over the past 20 years in providing over 27,000 units of quality accommodation and the constraints on large-scale capital building programmes funded by the Exchequer.

My Department is working closely with the representative bodies for the sector, the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) and the National Association of Building Co-operatives (NABCO), individual AHBs and others to strengthen their capacity to deliver. To this end, the strategy includes a number of changes and actions that will help to promote the optimal configuration of what is a very diverse sector if it is to fulfil an enhanced role in social housing supply. The changes include the introduction of a multi-annual housing expenditure programme; prioritisation of funding to incentivise scale; innovative financing mechanisms; promotion of collaboration at local and regional level between local authorities and AHBs; and enhanced regulation of the sector.

As regards financing measures, the finance workstream established under the strategy is exploring off-balance sheet funding mechanisms such as public private partnerships and the establishment of a financial vehicle for the provision of project finance. This vehicle would specialise in channelling private finance to AHBs for the acquisition and development of social housing.

The strategy also indicates that in the context of the new financial vehicle, it will be important to consider how local authorities might access this type of off-balance sheet funding. In this context, the possibility of establishing an AHB by a local authority or by a consortium of local authorities will be explored.