Speaking at the recently hosted Policy Forum for Ireland, chaired by Senator Mary FitzPatrick, CEO of Initiative Ireland, Padraig W Rushe has called for additional measures to fast-track affordable housing supply following publication of Initiative Ireland’s Housing 2021 Report.
The keynote seminar, whose speakers included Housing Charities, Approved Housing Bodies, Local Government Bodies and other Key Industry and Government Figures, saw a review of key priorities for housing policy in Ireland, with a focus on the implementation of the Affordable Housing Act.
“We want to encourage conversation around all the elements which contribute to Housing Supply shortfalls and the experience on the ground. An increase in supply that doesn’t address household demand for example is a key concern and something that needs to be monitored carefully to avoid displacing markets,” Mr Rushe stated.
Key Report Findings include:
• Lower-income families remain locked out of housing, especially within the Greater Dublin Area; where households on the average income of €65,400 were able to access less than seven percent of new homes built and 8.5 percent of Existing Housing Sales.
• Household Buyers have gone from accounting for 62 percent of sales to 54 percent of sales, over the last five years, with increasing sales to institutional buyers and reductions in Household Landlords and a reduction in actual sales to owner-occupiers year on year.
• Only 35 percent of New Homes delivered in 2020 nationwide were for Household Buyers, including Self-Builds. This compares to 40 percent in 2018.
• 2020 saw planning approvals and extensions at 45,000 units, compared to forecast need for 59,000 per annum to adjust for non-commencements. Application approvals in the first half of
• 2021 accounted for 18,113 units, indicating a severe drop year-on-year which is expected to impact delivery in 2022.
Initiative Ireland presented plans to support a 16 percent increase in housing supply over the next three years. As a values-based financial services company, Initiative Ireland provides development finance for residential housing developments nationwide, lending to both Property Developers and Approved Housing Bodies alike with a focus on supporting supply of energy-efficient, social and private affordable housing.
“Our developer Offering is backed by our own Irish Impact Investor Community and more recently by Fairfield Real Estate Finance and Goldman Sachs as our new funding partners. We also aim to support Approved Housing Bodies, to directly finance developments and also provide flexible shorter-term funding solutions, to complement state funding solutions.
“Our AHB Program is backed by a New Fund established by Initiative Ireland, in partnership with the Credit Union Development Association, Davy and Northern Trust. Combined, we’re working to deliver a 16 percent increase in supply on average over the next three years, to establish a non-state funded model that promotes competition and sustainability,” Mr Rushe remarked.
In September Initiative Ireland CEO Padraig W. Rushe and CEO of Fairfield Real Estate Finance Chris Wilson, announced they had secured the backing of the Private Credit Business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, as an additional backer for their new sustainable finance partnership, which has capacity to finance the construction of over 7,500 homes over the next three years.
The announcement also came with confirmation from Initiative Ireland that it will soon commence lending to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs ), with the goal of supporting the delivery of an additional 10,000 new homes over the next 10 years. The Fund received final approval in September 2021 from the Central Bank and is now open for subscription to Irish Credit Unions, with the goal of originating €600m of loans over the next three years.
