Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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116. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if NAMA might be again approached with a view to the possible availability of extra housing to meet the pressing needs of local authority housing applicants throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2319/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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NAMA was established as an independent commercial body to operate under the direction of its Board of Directors, in accordance with the NAMA Act. Under Section 10 of the NAMA Act, NAMA is mandated to act in a commercial manner to obtain the best financial return for the State. As such, NAMA's dealings with its debtors, as well as the management, funding and sale of assets are all commercial decisions taken with consideration to NAMA's commercial obligations.

Following proactive engagement between NAMA, the Housing Agency and my Department, a process was established to ascertain whether residential properties made available by NAMA, through its borrowers and receivers, are suitable for social housing.

The properties under consideration are part of the security for loans that NAMA has acquired. In the majority of cases, properties remain in the ownership of the original borrowers. The remaining properties are controlled by receivers appointed by NAMA. Once a demand has been identified, NAMA makes contact with the relevant property owner/receiver to determine if the properties are still available and to discuss how these properties can be best utilised.

Properties that are deemed suitable may be leased or purchased by local authorities or Approved Housing Bodies (housing associations and co-operatives) through engagement with the property owners or, on their behalf, appointed insolvency practitioners, facilitated by NAMA. This is a continuous process and additional properties have been added and offered as they become available over the last number of years. To end-2016, 2,378 properties have been secured for social housing under this initiative. A further 370 properties are at Terms Agreed/Active Negotiation/Pre-Appraisal stages. While NAMA is consistently mindful of identifying properties which may be suitable for social housing, the pool of such properties is reducing in line with the wider NAMA portfolio and at this stage it is unlikely that significant numbers of additional properties will be identified. However, the Steering Group remains active and will continue to work through any potential units that may arise.

In addition to this Social Housing initiative, NAMA is making a very substantial contribution, on a commercial basis, to the increased supply of new homes through its residential delivery programme. Against the background of major supply shortage in urban areas, NAMA has undertaken to fund the delivery of up to 20,000 residential units by 2020. Residential developments funded by NAMA are subject to the same planning and regulatory requirements as all other developments. This includes policies relating to Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 and as such, it is expected that a minimum of 10% of the anticipated output of this investment by NAMA, or about 2,000 units, will become available for social housing through this statutory mechanism over this period.