The credit unions have billions to invest in affordable housing

THE credit unions have had billions available for a number of years to invest in the delivery of social and affordable housing, Fainna Fáil Deputy Pat Casey told the Dáil. ‘It took over three years for the Central Bank to approve this funding to deliver social housing and we are now one year on from that,’ he said. ‘The off-balance sheet model that was deemed possible to allow the credit unions to invest in social housing has been proven to be on-balance sheet, and all approved housing bodies are on-balance sheet. Until we deal with the bureaucracy that is stopping us finding the solutions for people out there, we are wasting our time. We have billions available; all we need is a model. We have been talking about this model for years.’.

In response, Tánaiste Simon Coveney said his understanding was that, in response to proposals from the credit union sector to provide funding for social housing, the Central Bank’s investment framework was amended to allow for investment in Tier three approved housing bodies via a regulated entity.

‘Since March 1, credit unions have been permitted to provide funding via a special purpose vehicle to Tier three approved housing bodies for the provision of social housing,’ he said. ‘This change in regulation could facilitate a combined sector investment in tier three approved housing bodies of close to €700 million.

‘To put this figure into context, to the end of 2017 total lending from the Housing Finance Agency to approved housing bodies was €350 million. Under current regulations, credit unions are free to set up special purpose vehicles and invest in Tier three approved housing bodies, subject to certain limits.’.