Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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177. To ask the Minister for Finance the criterion used by NAMA to select residential units to be offered for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46748/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised that NAMA continuously reviews the assets of all NAMA debtors and appointed receivers to establish if vacant residential properties securing their loans could potentially be made available for social housing. This includes identifying vacant residential properties, as well as exploring opportunities to undertake remediation and completion works at a number of unfinished developments that are in the control of NAMA debtors. In instances where properties are not complete or require remediation, NAMA commits to fund their remediation and/or completion, subject to commercial viability.

Up until end-October 2018, NAMA had identified a total of 6,984 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. NAMA had no direct interaction with the local authorities. Of the units identified, demand was confirmed by local authorities for 2,718 properties, of which 2,475 have been contracted or delivered for social housing use to date. Additionally, as part of new developments, NAMA debtors and receivers provided residential units in compliance with Part V planning obligations.

It is important to note that NAMA’s debtors have the right to maximise the sales value of properties securing their loans so as to enable them to maximise their debt repayments. Therefore, NAMA cannot require a debtor to take action which would reduce his/her repayment capacity, such as the sale of property at less than its market value.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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178. To ask the Minister for Finance the reasons given to NAMA for rejection and acceptance, respectively, by the local authorities and approved housing bodies of the social housing units offered to them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46749/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised that NAMA has no role in the process of confirming demand for, and assessing the suitability of, properties for social housing. This is a matter between the Housing Agency and local authorities.

I am advised that an important consideration for local authorities is the requirement to provide for an appropriate mix of housing tenures and to avoid undue housing segregation within individual developments and wider residential areas. In some cases, properties for which demand was confirmed subsequently became unavailable – for example, they were sold or let during the period in which a decision was awaited from the local authority concerned. This is to be expected in the case of a live portfolio. In other cases, the properties identified were incomplete and required remediation works, which NAMA committed to funding if required.

The following table provides a breakdown by local authority of the 4,266 units involved and sets out the reasons given as to why the units were not utilised for social housing.