Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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48. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if an explanation was sought from the relevant local authority CEOs or the Housing Agency as to the reason only 2,717 units were taken up by county councils when a total of 6,984 social housing units were offered to their sector by NAMA. [39009/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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At the end of June 2018, a total of 6,984 residential properties had been identified by NAMA as potentially available for social housing.

Local authorities, together with the Housing Agency and my Department, have worked systematically through the full list of units with NAMA to determine if there is a social housing demand for the properties identified as potentially suitable for social housing. As part of the process the Housing Agency has been liaising and in direct contact with all the relevant local authorities to discuss the demand requirements and to co-ordinate the response to NAMA. Where a demand is identified, this information is provided to NAMA and efforts are made to secure as many of the suitable properties as possible for social housing. This process is ongoing and demand has been confirmed by the local authorities for 2,717 of the properties to end June 2018.

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.

2,424 of the properties have been notified by local authorities to the Housing Agency as unsuitable by reference to sustainable planning and housing policy or are located in areas with no demand. A further 1,843 properties have been sold or privately let by the owners or receivers.

To date, a total of 2,474 residential properties have been delivered for social housing providers comprising of 2,407 completed properties with a further 67 that have been contracted where completion work is on-going.

Of the units declined, in the majority of cases it was because of the need to avoid over concentration of social housing units, either directly within an estate or within the wider geographic area, potentially isolated from the main urban centres.

In many cases, where larger numbers of units were offered, local authorities indicated demand for a lesser, more sustainable number than that offered and all stakeholders endeavoured to facilitate this. Units may have also been in unfinished developments outside of urban centres without infrastructural or community supports.

Although the majority of properties were declined on the basis of local demand or sustainable communities, a small number of properties were declined on the basis that they were not suitable for social housing, either by virtue of the nature of the development, e.g. holiday home type developments, or the units were in areas of exceptionally high market rents or required high management service charges and therefore were not financially viable to be acquired or leased for social housing purposes.

While NAMA, together with the Housing Agency, actively monitor activity related to units that may have been declined and which may still be available, the consultative process undertaken with local authorities to date has been considerable.

Transparency around the NAMA Social Housing process is ensured through regular updates to the websites of the Housing Agency and NAMA. The following link provides detailed data in this regard, broken down by local authority across a range of categories:

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