The NDFA is providing financial advice to the Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government (“DHPLG”) on the Enhanced Long Term Social Housing Leasing Scheme (“the Scheme”). The DHPLG will govern the Scheme and will provide funding to Local Authorities to lease properties to accommodate social housing tenants on a long term basis. The Housing Agency will manage and administer the Scheme on behalf of the DHPLG.
The Scheme aims to ramp up the scale of delivery of social housing under the leasing delivery mechanism and will target newly built or yet to be built units for leasing to minimise competition with existing housing stock. Proposers will be asked to submit applications for a minimum of 20 properties which will be leased to the Local Authorities for a period of 25 years. The lease will require the property owner to provide day to day maintenance of the properties and the proportion of market rent payable under the lease will be a maximum of 95%.
A Call for Proposals (“CFP”) was issued together with the Lease and Agreement for Lease on Wednesday 31stJanuary. A market briefing took place the same day to supplement the issue of the documentation. The market briefing included a speech from Minister English, followed by a presentation from the Housing Agency outlining the key terms of the lease. Submissions should be made by 12 April 2018.