Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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273. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will review the financing model used by a cooperative (details supplied) to ensure its public purchases represent the best value for money; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42769/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) is an innovate mechanism to secure and deliver social housing at a fraction of the capital cost to the State. AHBs secure 70%+ of the funding through private finance arrangements with the Housing Finance Agency or other sources.  

Part of the decision process by my Department is the assessment of the level of CALF funding that a proposed project requires, which is assessed on the basis of the value for money of the investment over the lifetime of the project. AHBs are required to submit a full financial analysis of the project including sources of funding available and any assumptions made in respect of income and expenditure over the term of the proposed Payment and Availability Agreements (P&A Agreement). This assessment involves analysing the income, expenditure and inflation assumptions against a standard set of assumptions agreed with my Department. The appropriate level of CALF is determined by reference to Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR). This provides a threshold against which funding applications can be measured and the funding adjusted to achieve this threshold value.   

In the case of this particular project, a number of the homes under this project are proposed to be funded under my Department under P&A-CALF. My Department issued an approval in principal in January 2019, which has since lapsed. A further application is expected in respect of this project.  

In advance of the formal establishment of the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority, the oversight of AHBs is conducted through the Voluntary Regulation Code (the Code), "Building for the Future, A Voluntary Regulation Code for Approved Housing Bodies in Ireland" underpinned by three standards - Financial, Governance and Performance Standards.  

The Code is overseen by an Interim Regulatory Committee supported by a Regulation Office based in the Housing Agency. In accordance with Department Circular 15/2016, only those AHBs that have signed up to the Code and have undergone a satisfactory assessment as part of the assessment process by the Regulation Office are considered eligible for funding. Co-operative Housing Ireland are signed up to the Code.

The matter of Value for Money (VFM) is covered in the Performance Standard.  An AHB must continuously manage, monitor, challenge and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of services, and ensure that the costs of supplying these services are competitive and offer VFM. These considerations should be applied across all services, including the materials and services that the AHB procures, as well as those it provides directly.

AHBs are expected to have policy and procedures that include:

- How VFM is achieved across the business, with a particular emphasis upon the areas of highest spend;

- The evaluation of both the cost and quality of services through the use of agreed measures;

- An approach to procurement that delivers the greatest long-term benefits to the organisation and meets public procurement rules; and

- Regular monitoring and reporting of performance in achieving VFM objectives.