John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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331. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government following the publication of his action plan for housing and homelessness four months ago, the status of the progress made to date on action 3.2; the details of the uptake of the scheme by local authorities to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35076/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Action 3.2 of Rebuilding Ireland provides for the provision of capacity through increased borrowing and access to Housing Finance Agency (HFA) financing for participating local authorities to provide matching funding for the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF).

The Housing Finance Agency has agreed to work with local authorities to facilitate access to matching funds. On 29 August 2016 the HFA corresponded with local authorities to inform them that local authorities have access to loan finance options through the HFA subject to the normal approval process (i.e. Council resolution and Department sanction). The HFA further advised that they would be able to tailor the match funding as required to support a local authority’s application for the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund, with offers ranging from short term variable rate finance up to long term fixed rate, at very competitive interest rates.

In addition, effective from 1 October 2016, the HFA reduced the interest rates charged on existing offerings and approved a range of new fixed rate lending products to support the funding of new social housing and infrastructure projects by AHBs and local authorities. The new range of products provides extremely competitive fixed interest rates ranging from 5 to 30 years. Local authorities will be able to borrow fixed rate funding for 25 years at 1.5% or lower. The interest rate reduction will result in saving of €6m per annum on interest rate payments by local authorities.

Proposals received under the LIHAF are currently being evaluated and assessed in line with the criteria set down in the call for proposals. The uptake in respect of the accessing of matching funding by individual local authorities will be dependent on the outcome of this process in respect of the specific projects selected.