Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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583. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he has given approval to a society (details supplied) for the purchase of 13 houses at Laurelville, Mill Road, Corbally, County Clare. [30711/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) are making an important contribution to social housing delivery, as envisaged under current Government policy. My Department operates a number of funding programmes that assist local authorities to work in partnership with AHBs to construct, purchase and lease new homes and make them available for social housing. One such programme that AHBs progress projects through is the Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF).

CALF funding is capital support provided to AHBs by local authorities to facilitate the funding of construction, acquisition or refurbishment of new social housing units. This loan facility can support up to 30% of the eligible capital cost of the housing project, with the housing units provided to local authorities for social housing use under long-term lease arrangements known as Payment and Availability Agreements. A nominal interest rate of 2% fixed per annum is charged by the local authority on the initial capital amount.Repayments on either the capital or interest are not required during the term of the loan (between 10 and 30 years). At the end of the term, the outstanding capital amount plus the interest accrued, is owed and repayable to the local authority. The local authority issues the CALF monies to the AHB and the local authority, in turn, recoups same from my Department.

Regarding the location and AHB mentioned by the Deputy, there is a housing project comprising 13 high-quality homes for social housing use, that are being progressed by Clúid Housing, working in partnership with Limerick City and County Council, who have confirmed a social housing need for 3 and 4 bedroom homes in this area.

My Department issued a CALF approval for this Turnkey Project in January 2021. This project will deliver in two tranches, over Q4 2021 and Q1 2022. As with all projects in the current COVID-19 climate, delivery programmes and timelines are under constant review.

Turnkeys are, in the main, homes built by developers under contract for local authorities or AHBs. Turnkeys commonly provide a faster delivery of units (in the majority of cases, planning permission is already secured). In many instances, turnkey delivery has provided a means of delivery in locations where there is a social housing need but where a local authority has no suitable sites. Turnkeys purchased by local authorities or AHBs frequently have arisen where the developer has difficulty in financing the development and without the local authority or AHBs purchase, the scheme would not otherwise have been delivered. These homes are directly expanding overall housing supply because they are new homes built for the local authority or AHBs.