Finance available per annum for the Housing Finance Agency to lend to approved housing bodies

QUESTION

To ask the Minister for Housing; Planning and Local Government the amount of finance available per annum for the Housing Finance Agency to lend to approved housing bodies; the amount loaned out to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
REPLY



The Housing Finance Agency (HFA) plc is a non-commercial semi-State company under the aegis of the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government, limited by shares under the terms of the Housing Finance Agency Act 1981.

The principal objectives of the HFA are to advance funds to local authorities and approved housing bodies (AHBs) to be used by them for any purpose authorised under the Housing Acts 1966 to 2016, and to borrow or raise funds for these purposes.

The HFA is demand-led by loan applications and finance is raised as needed for the provision of such lending. Rather than funding allocations for particular years, the HFA has a statutory borrowing limit of €10 billion. Drawn funding as at 30 November 2019 amounts to approx. €4.26 billion.

The HFA advanced €238 million in 2018 and €582 million to-date in 2019 to AHBs.