Offaly Independent TD asks: 'Do we really need 437 approved housing bodies'

INDEPENDENT TD for Offaly Carol Nolan has said she will be engaging with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne, to establish what value-for-money assessments are in place with respect to the funding provided by his department to the countries 437 Approved Housing Bodies.

Approved housing bodies (AHBs) are independent, not-for-profit organisations that provide affordable rented housing for people who cannot afford to pay private sector rents or buy their own homes:

Deputy Nolan was speaking ahead of a Dáil debate calling for Emergency Action on Housing and Homelessness:

“While I will certainly be supporting the motion that is being brought forward this evening, I do think we need to have a radical reassessment of the sheer volume of AHB’s in the state, all of which receive funding provided directly by the Department of Housing to local authorities, who in turn, advance the funding to the AHBs,” said Deputy Nolan.

“If you go the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority website you will see that there is an astonishing 437 AHBs on the official register and a further 12 more than have had their registration cancelled. That strikes me as a situation calling for urgent attention.”

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“Even if we accept that many of these Bodies perform excellent and vital work, is there really a need for 437 of them in a country this size? I would have concerns around duplication and funding being directed to Bodies that essentially do the same work in the same area.”

“I have been raising this issue for some time with previous Governments. Indeed, when I raised it with then Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien in 2022, he explicitly informed me that the funding provided to each individual AHB was not readily available within his department. This was despite the fact that in 2020 and 2021, €514 million and €624 million respectively was provided by his department to the local authorities to a range of AHB funded schemes.”

“I absolutely agree that we have to use all levers at our disposal to address homelessness and housing supply, but there is more than a sense emerging here that what we have is almost akin to a homelessness industry with many AHBs carrying massive levels of debt.”

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