PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, 20th October 2016
The social housing sector needs immediate access to land and finance in order to meet the targets set out in the Government’s Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness. That’s according to the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH), the national federation for non-profit housing associations, which is holding its housing finance conference in Kilkenny this week.
At the conference today (20.10.16), Dr. Donal McManus, CEO of the ICSH called on the Government to guarantee housing associations can access sites, and private finance to ensure social housing delivery targets can be met.
Dr McManus said: “Under the Government’s Action Plan for Housing, our sector is tasked with delivering 15,000 homes over the next five years. This will entail an investment of up to €2 billion by housing associations.
“We have repeatedly called for State lands to be released to housing associations immediately. Access to land has to occur in the first year of the five-year period set out for the Government’s Action Plan. Identifying and assembling sites, going through the planning process, and commencing development can take two to three years. So if land is not made available now, the targets in the plan will not be met.
“A new ‘mixed funding’ model will be used to finance the €2bn investment by housing associations. They will use funding received from the State to leverage in additional finance from the private sector. For every €30 million of state funding an additional €70 million will be raised independently by housing associations thus stretching the overall investment in social housing. In effect, this allows us to provide three times more homes than if we were wholly dependent on public capital funding.
“Housing associations have already embraced this new ‘mixed funding’ model in recent years with success. With the financing in place and access to state lands, the sector can properly plan to meet the 15,000 homes target. In the coming years, we look forward to continuing our work with government and private finance providers to ensure social housing targets are met.”
Dr McManus also highlighted how housing associations have worked with the private sector in recent years by opportunity and necessity to deliver social housing.
He said: “The Rebuilding Ireland ambitions will not be met without private sector developers increasing the output in the development of new affordable homes. This challenge here cannot be underestimated. The housing market is too crowded leaving those at the bottom without a home.”
AIB Support
The ICSH conference is running throughout today and tomorrow at the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny. The event is supported by AIB.
Commenting today, Donall O’Shea, Head of Real Estate Finance with AIB, said: “As a leading financial institution, AIB is backing the voluntary housing sector by providing access to project finance lending for acquisitions, as well as development finance for construction projects.”
In addition to Dr. McManus and Mr. O’Shea, other speakers at the conference today and tomorrow include:
- Donald Lockhart from the Housing Association Resource for Investment Scheme (HARIS) in Scotland, who will focus on off-balance-sheet financing of social housing.
- Kieran McQuinn, Associate Research Professor with the Economic and Social Research Institute, speaking on the topic of ‘Landscape for Delivery and Value for Money’.
- Gene Clayton, CEO of the Iveagh Trust, who will describe an innovative housing project centred on moving elderly people from larger local authority houses into a customised, community-based housing scheme.
ENDS
About the ICSH
- The Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) is the national federation for non-profit housing associations, representing approximately 270 members that provide social housing. The sector manages over 30,000 homes for families on a low income, older people, people with disabilities and homeless households.
- Further information is available at www.icsh.ie, or by following the ICSH on Twitter, @icsh_ie.
