The Housing Alliance, representing the six largest housing bodies, said the rate increases were “likely to put more pressure on the delivery of social and affordable housing”.
Brian O’Gorman, chief executive of Clúid Housing, said it was reassessing and evaluating the impact on cost-rental projects in development in light of the higher funding costs. “It is inevitable that we will not be able to proceed with some projects in the future. These concerns are shared by all AHBs,” he said., another AHB, said the overall social housing and cost-rental funding model would require “tweaking” to cope with the higher costs of delivering housing.
A Department of Housing spokeswoman said that, in the event of rate increases, officials engage with individual AHBs to ascertain the effects on projects and “where necessary, reappraise the initial financial assessment”. “The department will be working closely with the AHB sector now to ensure that the increase in HFA lending rates does not impact on the delivery of social housing projects under Housing For All,” she said.Housing Finance Agency chief executive Barry O’Leary said the “modest” increases were due to “high volatility in the bond markets” – where the agency sources its funding – and the “substantial” increase in Government borrowing costs.
“I would be very concerned that any change to the interest rates on loans already secured but as yet not drawn down – or indeed on new loans – could significantly undermine the viability and the affordability of the cost-rental offering and that would be a very retrograde step,” he said.Mr O’Leary said the agency’s plan was to lend €6 billion over the five years to 2026, representing at least 25 per cent of the total funding under the Housing for All plan.
who can afford a house right now?