COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, March 10, 2014

QUESTION NO. 8

QUESTION: Councillor E. Ó Broin

To ask the Manager to provide a report on the list of potential social housing presented to the Council by NAMA detailing; the total number of units proposed by NAMA; the locations of these units; the criteria used by the Council in determining the suitability of the units for social housing; the number of units deemed suitable for social housing; the location of these units; the progress to date in bringing these units into social use; the funding model being used with respect to these units; the housing associations involved with these units; the number of these units currently tenanted?

REPLY:

NAMA (National Asset Management Agency) has identified residential properties controlled by its debtors and receivers as being  potentially available and suitable for social housing provision.

The properties under consideration are part of the security for loans that NAMA has acquired, and in the majority of cases these properties remain in the ownership of the original borrowers. The remaining properties are controlled by receivers appointed by NAMA. 

National Asset Residential Property Services Limited (NARPS) is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) established by NAMA to speed up the process of making properties available for social housing provision.

The SPV will operate by:

• purchasing properties directly from debtors or receivers and
• making them available to housing authorities and AHBs by way of a long term lease.

How it Works:

• The Housing Agency liaises with local authorities to determine if there is a social housing demand for the properties identified by NAMA. 
• Where a demand is identified, this information is provided to NAMA and arrangements are made to secure as many properties as possible for social housing.
• NAMA facilitates contact and negotiation between its debtor/receiver and the authority/Approved Housing Bodies concerned.  NARPS may also consider acquiring the properties.
• The local authority has the option of leasing the properties directly from the owner or NARPS. Alternatively, Approved Housing Bodies can secure the properties through lease or, in some cases, purchase arrangements and make them available for social housing support through a P&A (Payment & Availability) agreement.

This Council met with NAMA representatives in 2013 to discuss some possibilities in the South Dublin County area.  However the properties identified to the Council were deemed unsuitable by virtue of the fact that the Council was in the process of, and subsequently successfully concluded, negotiations on a Part V agreement with the receivers in question. 

To date 40 individual units have been purchased by CLUID Housing Association (at two locations).  These acquisitions were funded by way of a combination of a Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) loan and leasing monies.   The CALF is a facility which is exclusively available to Approved Housing Bodies to assist them in accessing private or Housing Finance Agency (HFA) finance for the purchase, or, in some cases construction, of units, that are then  made available for social housing purposes under the leasing initiative via Payment and Availability Agreement referred to above.