Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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663. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will establish a multi-fund cross-departmental green-deal agency responsible for accessing European and private funding sources, in order to finance a new scheme across all tenure types; the estimated cost of establishing such an agency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46334/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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In November 2014, the Government approved the Social Housing Strategy 2020, which sets out a strategic framework for meeting the State’s social housing needs to the end of the decade. The Strategy includes a commitment to commence work on a financial vehicle, to be known as the Strategic Housing Fund, to raise funding for the social housing sector. The financial vehicle will be established to facilitate the aggregation of private investment into a fund for subsequent lending as project finance. It is intended that this funding would be lent on to qualifying Approved Housing Bodies, giving them access to long term finance.

Work on the development of this new funding model is being progressed under the oversight of a group which has been put in place to develop the financial aspects of the Social Housing Strategy. This group - the Finance Work Stream - comprises a range of key stakeholders including my Department, the Housing Finance Agency, the National Development Finance Agency and the Departments of Finance and of Public Expenditure and Reform. The timing of the introduction of the new funding model will be dependent on the outcome of the group’s work.

Notwithstanding this, the Housing Finance Agency is a State-owned company established in 1982, which provides loan finance to local authorities and voluntary housing bodies for housing and related purposes. The HFA raises its funds on the domestic and international capital markets in structures and at costs that reflect its customers’ requirements.

In February 2015, a new initiative jointly backed by the Housing Finance Agency and the European Investment Bank was announced which is expected to support investment in 2,000 social housing units to be developed across Ireland over the next three years. The €150 million funding from the European Investment Bank will be matched by the HFA to provide €300 million available for lending to support investment by Approved Housing Bodies across the country to upgrade social housing and improve energy efficiency. By accessing EIB funding the HFA will be able to offer Approved Housing Bodies long-term finance at extremely competitive rates. This is just one of the methods of housing delivery in the Social Housing Strategy and underlines the Government’s commitment to tackling the acute housing need that currently exists.