Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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1402. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in relation to his announcement (details supplied) on the new funding that is to be provided by the EIB and HFA for student accommodation, if he will outline the conditionality, if any, that will be applied to Universities accessing this funding in terms of their obligations to set an affordable rates of rent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47923/23]

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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1403. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in relation to his announcement (details supplied) on the new funding that is to be provided by the EIB and HFA for student accommodation, if he will outline whether this model of delivery will differ from the existing model, or whether it is a continuation albeit with additional funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47924/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1402 and 1403 together.

I welcome the recent announcement from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) providing a new and increased financing investment of €434m student accommodation to support higher education institutions in the development of affordable student housing. The new scheme, backed by a forty-year €200m EIB loan, is expected to support the delivery of an estimated 2,700 new student beds across Ireland.

This initiative provides a framework loan facility to the Irish Housing Finance Agency (HFA) to provide finance directly to Irish public higher education providers to develop student accommodation.

This deal will further the Government’s priorities, as this new funding will form 25% of the Housing for All commitment made by the HFA. The funding is ring fenced for 5 years and is now open for applications.

The initiative is separate to the Government announcement where a total of up to €61 million has been approved in principle to unlock the development of over 1,000 beds across our universities. These were developments with planning permission that had stalled due to rising construction costs, and are now being progressed under my Department’s Short Term Activation Plan.

The Short-Term Activation Programme is a crisis response to the difficulties being faced by students in securing affordable student accommodation and the challenges being faced by the Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) trying to build student accommodation. This programme is the immediate response in advance of completing the new long term policy.

The priority is to activate the supply of new accommodation where planning permission already exists but developments have not proceeded due to increasing construction costs. The objective is to activate supply in a way that will enable targeted groups to access accommodation at more affordable rates.

Under this programme, the HEIs submit a project proposal that meets the programme criteria. If the project is approved, an agreed percentage of the total cost will be provided in grant funding to activate the PBSA project, subject to due diligence assessment, and compliance with the Public Spending Code and public procurement regulations.

In return, the HEI will ring fence a percentage of beds to be made available to target group students at below market rent over a specified number of years. The projects currently approved in principle will ring fence 30% of the new beds to be provided to the target group at a discount from market rent for an agreed number of years.

The balance of the finance required for any student accommodation project being progressed by a University is a matter for the individual University as an autonomous body and will not be administered or facilitated by the Department. I welcome the financing agreement between the EIB and HFA which will assist the HEIs to finance future student accommodation projects.

The long term policy approach which I intend to bring to Government in Q4, 2023 will include progression of standardised design specification templates and costing models to be developed in consultation with the DHLGH.

The objective of the PBSA Standardised Design & Specification Project is to examine international best practice and flexibility of design to inform appropriate standards in the delivery of affordable accommodation.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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1404. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in relation to his announcement (details supplied) on the new funding that is to be provided by the EIB and HFA for student accommodation, it is stated that he recently "received approval to extend this lending to Technological Universities", so if he can confirm that the TU's borrowing will now deemed to be off balance sheet, and can he outline when they will be permitted to undertake their own borrowing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47925/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) have agreed a new €434m student accommodation financing initiative to support higher education institutions in the development of affordable student housing. The new scheme, backed by a forty-year €200m EIB loan, is expected to support the delivery of an estimated 2,700 new student beds across Ireland.

The initiative provides a framework loan facility to the Irish Housing Finance Agency (HFA) to provide finance directly to Irish public higher education providers to develop student accommodation.

This deal will further the Government’s priorities, as this new funding will form 25% of the Housing for All commitment made by the HFA. The funding is ring fenced for 5 years and is now open for applications.

The investment is separate to the Government announcement where a total of up to €61 million has been approved in principle to unlock the development of over 1,000 beds across our universities. These were developments with planning permission that had stalled due to rising construction costs, and are now being activated under short term response measures.

As you are aware, Government approved investment of €1 million in 2023/2024 to assist our Technological Universities (TUs) to undertake a needs assessment for student accommodation in key regional areas. Department officials and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) have been extensively engaging with the sector to progress this study.

I can confirm that the HEA is currently finalising the first report of this study, which is a supply and demand analysis of student accommodation across each region. This report will inform long term policy development for State supported student accommodation for the TU sector. The remaining work programmes of this study will commence imminently to design a framework for student accommodation for the TU sector including an assessment of specific proposals.

The Housing Finance Agency Act 1981, as amended, facilitates lending by the HFA to institutions of higher education, including TUs. My Department and I are working with relevant Government Departments and Agencies to explore the development of a specific borrowing framework for the TU sector, as part of an assessment of a range of mechanisms for the delivery of student accommodation for the TU sector. The options arising from the TU feasibility study will inform this ongoing engagement.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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1405. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in relation to his announcement (details supplied) on the new funding that is to be provided by the EIB and HFA for student accommodation, considering that the Department of Housing carried over the full 10% of last year's capital budget, if he foresee any difficulties in terms of the capacity to spend this additional funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47926/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) have agreed a new €434m student accommodation financing initiative to support higher education institutions in the development of affordable student housing. The new scheme, backed by a forty-year €200m EIB loan, is expected to support the delivery of an estimated 2,700 new student beds across Ireland.

The initiative provides a framework loan facility to the Irish Housing Finance Agency (HFA) to provide finance directly to Irish public higher education providers to develop student accommodation.

This deal will further the Government’s priorities, as this new funding will form 25% of the Housing for All commitment made by the HFA. The funding is ring fenced for 5 years and is now open for applications.

The initiative is separate to the Government announcement where a total of up to €61 million has been approved in principle to unlock the development of over 1,000 beds across our universities. These were developments with planning permission that had stalled due to rising construction costs, and are now being progressed under my Department’s Short Term Activation Plan.

The Short-Term Activation Programme is a crisis response to the difficulties being faced by students in securing affordable student accommodation and the challenges being faced by the Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) trying to build student accommodation. This programme is the immediate response in advance of completing the new long term policy.

The priority is to activate the supply of new accommodation where planning permission already exists but developments have not proceeded due to increasing construction costs. The objective is to activate supply in a way that will enable targeted groups to access accommodation at affordable rates.

Under this programme, the HEIs submit a project proposal that meets the programme criteria. If the project is approved, an agreed percentage of the total cost will be provided in grant funding to activate the PBSA project, subject to due diligence assessment, and compliance with the Public Spending Code and public procurement regulations.

The balance of the finance required for the project is a matter for the individual University as an autonomous body and will not be administered or facilitated by the Department. I welcome the financing agreement between the EIB and HFA which will assist the HEIs to finance future student accommodation projects.