Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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183. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of residential properties that have been identified by NAMA as suitable for social housing and offered to local authorities; the number of such units delivered, by local authority area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54340/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that as part of its engagement with the Department, Planning and Local Government, and the Housing Agency, NAMA has played a significant role in facilitating the supply of social housing from its portfolio.

As part of this engagement, NAMA continuously reviews the assets of all NAMA debtors to establish if vacant residential properties securing their loans could be utilised for social housing. Up until end-2017, NAMA had identified a total of 6,951 residential properties as being potentially suitably for social housing. The location of these properties was made known to the Housing Agency, which liaised with local authorities across Ireland to determine the demand for these units. Of the units identified, demand was confirmed by local authorities for 2,684 properties, of which 2,472 have been contracted or delivered for social housing use to date.

I would remind the Deputy that confirmation of demand and decisions regarding the suitability of properties is a matter for the local authorities, and NAMA plays no role in this. I understand that local authorities take account of the requirement to provide an appropriate mix of housing tenures and to avoid undue housing segregation within individual developments and wider residential area. The table below outlines the number of residential units identified by NAMA on a county-by-county basis, the number where demand was confirmed by local authorities and the number delivered to date. This and other information on NAMA’s social housing initiatives is available on the NAMA website.

Once suitability and demand is confirmed for a property, NAMA facilitates contact and negotiation between the NAMA debtor or receiver and a local authority or approved housing body (AHB) to acquire the property. This can take the form of direct purchase by the local authority or AHB, or long-term leasing to the housing body by National Asset Residential Property Services Limited (NARPS). The creation of NARPS, a special purpose vehicle established by NAMA, was designed to streamline NAMA’s social housing delivery. The role of NARPS is to purchase suitable properties from NAMA debtors for onward leasing to local authorities or AHBs on the basis of long-term, commercial arrangements.

Prior to the transfer of the property to a housing body, NAMA provides funding to its debtors and receivers to ensure that the properties are completed in full compliance with current building standards and in compliance with all planning conditions. The Deputy will be aware that many of the properties acquired by NARPS had been incomplete vacant units in unfinished housing estates. The purchase of these properties by NARPS has often had the effect of triggering a wider programme of completion and remediation for these estates, including the common areas of the unfinished estates.

Table: Total number of dwellings offered and secured for use by local authorities or approved housing bodies, by local authority, to end-2017