Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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112. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the total approved lending to approved housing bodies for the delivery of social housing in 2020 and to date in 2021; the number of social homes delivered with that borrowing in 2020; and the target number to be delivered in 2021. [47023/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) are making and continue to make an important contribution to social housing delivery. My Department and local authorities administer a number of funding programmes to assist AHBs with the cost of building, buying and leasing new social housing units.

The Capital Advance Leasing Facility (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, including units acquired through the establishment of the Housing Agency Acquisition Fund and the Mortgage to Rent scheme. My Department can provide CALF funding of up to 30% or up to 40% in the case of the Mortgage to Rent scheme for eligible projects, 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), although where an AHB chooses to, repayments can be made during the term. 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 the Department. The remainder of the capital cost is sourced by the AHB through other borrowings to which the local authorities are not party.  All proposals for CALF are submitted to my Department by AHBs for review, to ensure that each project complies with the terms of the CALF and that there are sufficient funds available.

My Department does not hold information on the loan agreements under CALF, as the loan agreement, is between the local authority and the relevant AHB.  Accordingly, information on the number and value of CALF loans, including the balance owning, is held by the relevant local authorities. The value and term of each loan varies by project.

The following table shows the 2020 delivery and expenditure to Local Authorities by my Department.

2020 delivery supported by CALF Funding

The total budgetary allocation for CALF for 2021 is €220m of which €137.8m had been administered to Local Authorities by the end of August. In addition the 2021 budgetary allocation for the Mortgage to Rent scheme is €23m which also includes provision for the Local Authority Mortgage to Rent Scheme.

It is important to note that owing to the nature of the CALF, delivery of new housing does not always arise in the same year as expenditure and projects delivered under phased programmes may cross a number of payment periods. 

Details of the 2021 funding provision for CALF and MTR and related output target are set out in the 2021 Revised Estimates (REV) which is available at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/e20037-revised-estimates/#2021

Accelerating the delivery of social housing, with an increased emphasis on direct build is a key objective for my Department, and the Housing For All strategy contains an ambitious target of delivering more than 90,000 social homes to 2030.

Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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113. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps taken by his Department to upscale co-operative housing developments in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47024/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The recently published Housing for All strategy is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. The annual targets include the delivery of 88,400 new social homes and 53,800 new affordable homes in the period 2022-2030.  

Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the Land Development Agency (LDA) and €5bn funding through the Housing Finance Agency.  Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) will have a significant role in the delivery of new housing under Housing for All.  Under Housing for All, local authorities are required to prepare Housing Delivery Action Plans, to set out details of social and affordable housing to be delivered in the five-year period 2022-2026.  AHBs will be key delivery partners in the delivery of new homes under these action plans.  

A new strengthened regulatory regime for AHBs has also been put in place. The Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) was formally established on 1 February 2021. A key role of AHBRA is to encourage and facilitate the better governance, administration and management including corporate governance and financial management, of AHBs.