John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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47. To ask the Minister for Finance the progress being made with the National Treasuries Management Agency as outlined in action 2.4 of Rebuilding Ireland, to establish a funding vehicle capable of facilitating off-balance sheet investment in delivering social and private housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34034/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As set out in Rebuilding Ireland, the Government has been exploring potential mechanisms to facilitate investment in social housing that do not impact on the General Government Balance.  The objective is to create 'off-balance' mechanisms that bring investment into social housing which is additional to funding being provided directly by the State. 

ISIF and the wider NTMA is examining the feasibility of establishing a new funding vehicle, in conjunction with the private sector, that is capable of funding the delivery of new mixed-tenure residential developments. Whilst a major objective of any such funding vehicle is to leverage additionality in terms of social housing supply, it is envisaged that a substantial portion of the overall supply of new units may need to be for private housing to meet the commerciality test and to satisfy the requirements of an off-balance sheet investment model.   

It should be noted that several proposals from private sector residential investors and developers have not proven to be either commercial or likely to pass the requirements for an off-balance sheet model. As outlined in Rebuilding Ireland, the ISIF and the wider NTMA has identified that such a funding vehicle has the potential to provide some 5,000 additional units over a five-year period for social housing and could also play an important role in activating residential construction for the broader build to rent sector. 

There is ongoing engagement on the ISIF supported Housing Fund set out in Rebuilding Ireland, involving input from a wide array of actors, including my Department, ISIF/NTMA, the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, CSO/Eurostat, the European Investment Bank and other actors.  To date, there have been a series of meetings between these actors at which useful clarifications were received from CSO/Eurostat and the European Investment Bank. 

These meetings have allowed for detailed work to begin on the design of a funding vehicle. The actual establishment, management and operations of such a funding vehicle will require significant time, investment and engagement from a wide array of stakeholders in the public and private sectors and will only be possible if the challenges of establishing commerciality and off-balance sheet treatment can be satisfactorily met.