The State is spending billions on housing policy, with €9.4 billion allocated in Budget 2027 and significant extra supports through a variety of routes. One of the most important is approved housing bodies (AHB), non-profit agencies which are funded with State support, including borrowings from the Housing Finance Agency (HFA).
In this context, concerns expressed by the Department of Finance about the State exposure in this area are worthy of note. Following the decision of one AHB, Circle, to stop the construction of two projects in Dublin, the secretary general of the department, John Hurley, wrote to his counterpart in the Department of Housing, Graham Doyle, to express concern.
The lack of detailed information is “ a matter of concern”, Hurley said. He wanted to know whether similar issues had arisen in other AHBs. As part of the correspondence, reported in The Irish Times, it emerged that there were ongoing contacts between the two departments about “ oversight, governance and risk management” in AHBs more generally.
These bodies have quickly developed into major players, with 77,000 houses under management and 22,000 more planned by 2028. Loans from the Housing Finance Agency are a major source of funding and these are underwritten by the State. A regulator, the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority, is responsible for overseeing the sector.
RM Block
The growth of the AHBs in part reflects a gap created by the lack of capacity in local authorities in developing social and affordable housing. The State is scrambling to increase housing provision and AHBs have stepped into the gap. They have had an important and welcome role in many cases. But the speed of growth in their operations and the proliferation of players is clearly seen as a concern by the Department of Finance. Managing the resulting liabilities is important and the first step to doing so is full information being available. That the department feels this has not been the case is worrying.
