Written answers
Wednesday, 7 May 2025
Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government
Departmental Funding
Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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267. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to detail the amount of capital advance leasing facility funding approved for people with a disability, by county, by regional health area, year-on-year over the past six years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22511/25]
James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) funding is a capital support provided exclusively to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), through local authorities, to facilitate the financing of the acquisition and construction of social housing units, predominantly for general social housing needs.
The resultant housing units are provided to local authorities for social housing use under long-term lease arrangements known as Payment and Availability Agreements (PAAs). The facility is only available as part of a project where the AHB makes the housing units available under a PAA to nominees of the local authorities, from their social housing waiting lists, for a set period of time, usually between 25 and 30 years.
Pursuant to the CALF Scheme, my Department provides funding for housing units suitable for a range of potential tenants. AHBs, in collaboration with the local authorities, agree on the design and specification of each housing unit prior to submitting a funding application to my Department for review and decision, including accommodation for persons with disabilities. However, the allocation of social housing to tenants, and any matters arising, are an issue for the local authorities without my Department's express involvement and, hence, such information is not routinely collated by my Department.
My Department jointly published the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People 2022-2027 with the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in January 2022 and the Implementation Plan for the Strategy on 22 June 2023. The Strategy and Implementation Plan may be accessed on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/60d76-national-housing-strategy-for-disabled-people-2022-2027/.
My Department supports local authorities and AHBs to deliver social housing for persons with disabilities through varied funding programmes. Housing for persons with disabilities is primarily funded under the capital schemes for local authority housing through the Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) and, in particular, the AHBs through the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS) for the provision of independent living accommodation to meet the needs of people requiring specific categories of needs, including persons with disabilities.
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