Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1360. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the social housing PPP programme; the expected cost of this to the Exchequer in terms of availability payments; if private co-financing partners have been selected for the project; the identity of these partners; when he expects construction on the first and second bundle to commence; the structure of the PPP; if local authorities and AHBs will own or lease the social housing from the investment vehicle; and if leasing, the leasing scheme involved. [47126/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Social Housing PPP Programme involves an investment with a capital value of €300 million.  It is to deliver 1,500 social housing units in total, via three bundles.  The first bundle, which comprises six PPP sites, is to provide over 500 units in the Greater Dublin Area.  Two of the sites are located in the Dublin City Council area with one each in the County Council areas of South Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Louth. A contract notice was published on 12th May 2017 in the Official Journal of the European Union and expressions of interest were submitted by 5 candidates. Following evaluation of these submissions 3 candidates have been short-listed to tender. They are -

- BAM PPP PGGM Cooperatie U.A;

- Comhar;

- Torc Housing Partnership.

Details regarding these tenderers are available on the National Development Finance Agency website at .

The second bundle, comprising eight PPP sites which are to provide over 450 units, was announced in June 2016.  Three of the sites are located in the Cork County Council area, with one each in  the Galway City Council and Waterford City & County Council areas.  There is a further one site in each of the County Council areas of Clare, Kildare and Roscommon.  The contract notice for this bundle is expected to be published before the end of 2017.

The identification and selection of sites for the third project bundle is currently underway and is expected to be finalised in the coming months.

Each individual bundle of sites takes an estimated 37-48 months to deliver in total, including planning, procurement and construction.  It is expected that construction would commence in 2018 on the first bundle of sites, with units becoming available from 2019.  The timelines for construction and delivery of the second bundle of sites would be expected to follow some six months after those for the first bundle.

The Social Housing PPP Programme is being delivered through the ‘availability’ based PPP model.  Under this type of contract the PPP project company as the private partner designs, builds, finances and maintains public buildings on sites provided by the State, in this case through the local authority.  Payment is made by the State only once construction of the buildings is complete and the units are ready to house tenants. The payment comprises a monthly ‘availability’ and performance-based payment (or unitary charge) made over the term of the 25-year contract.

The amount of the availability payment is a bid item in the selection of the preferred tender.  This means that when a bidder tenders for the PPP project, the level of monthly payment is considered in assessing the competing tenders.  This is to ensure that the State receives value for money.

Land provided by the local authority is made available by way of a licence.  Ownership of State land is not transferred to the private partner PPP company.

Tenants allocated to PPP units will be nominated by the local authority, in the normal manner, from the local authority social housing waiting list in accordance with that local authority’s allocation scheme.  Each respective local authority therefore retains tenant nomination rights, and is to be the contractual landlord, with the same differential rent arrangements applying.