5. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the timeframe for the implementation of the recommendations of the approved housing bodies strategic forum report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65673/25]

Sentiment score: 0.15

Will the Minister outline a timeline for the implementation of the recommendations of the AHB strategic forum report? I ask him this in particular in relation to the gearing issue that is there and in relation to moving the AHB sector towards a sustainable delivery model. There is a real lack of clarity in the Minister's new housing plan on exactly how the Government will deliver its targets. How many direct-build social homes will be delivered under the new housing plan?

Sentiment score: 0.03

We know that AHBs are crucial if we are to have any hope of meeting our housing targets, particularly in terms of social housing delivery, but we also know they are approaching the limit of their borrowing capacity. A workable solution has been proposed by replacing the CALF loan element of AHB social housing with a Government-backed CALF equity grant support. It is the same level of funding as a grant equity but not as a loan. When will this be done by the Department? When the Minister appeared at the housing committee a number of weeks ago, he said that his Department had subsequently engaged with the Department of public expenditure and reform on the sanction request and that that Department would like to consider the sanction request in light of the report of the strategic forum. The report has now been finalised and published, so when will this be carried out?

Sentiment score: 0.31

I thank the Minister of State for that response. We really need to see action on this from the Government. The gearing and debt levels within some larger AHBs need to be addressed because they are basically putting our capacity to deliver housing at risk. Specifically, in relation to the recommendation of moving the AHB sector away from turnkey and towards direct delivery, there is a distinct lack of clarity on how the Government will deliver its 72,000 target, which is too low anyway because it does not take in the inbuilt deficit from the Housing Commission. How many out of the 72,000 will be direct-build social homes?

Sentiment score: -0.14