Social Housing: Key to Affordability and Liveability of Irish Towns and Cities

The Simon Communities of Ireland’s recent Locked Out of the Market Report shows a further deterioration in the availability of affordable rental properties across the country.

This requirement for more housing stock is something we’re all too familiar with.

Affordability

Unfortunately this isn’t a new issue and will continue to be a problem for many years to come. We recently saw the launch of the Minister’s Housing for All plan which outlined the plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade, increase social housing delivery, address vacant properties, and to make efficient use of existing stock.

At Onate, we work with investors and developers who come to us with residential properties that may be in need of some refurbishment prior to being rented out or placed on the market. These investors see opportunities in buying and refurbishing properties, and by implementing their value-add strategies, they provide essential rental accommodation for the market.

These investors and developers want to be able to go to a local authority or housing association and put a long term (generally 20 – 25 years) lease in place. If it’s a housing association, they’re Government funded or partly Government funded so it’s seen as a very good covenant from an investor’s perspective when purchasing these properties.

Onate has worked with numerous property investors who needed financial support to allow them to refurbish their properties in order to get them back into the housing stock. Recently, Onate supported a client with a debt settlement which allowed them to refurbish their properties. Following the refurbishment, these properties – which had been in limbo for years while the owners had worked through issues with the bank – were put on the open market and sold to owner occupiers.

Liveability

These vacant or tired properties are situated across the island of Ireland, including city centres. By buying these city centre properties and making those refurbishments, investors are bringing people back into the city centre and in turn, supporting local businesses. This is something that’s happening right across the country but unfortunately not at a quick enough pace to meet the demand. If you take Limerick Chamber’s Future Development of Limerick City report, they found a need to ensure that housing supply increases in order to meet the forecasted population growth for Limerick which is 1,000 new homes per year for the next 20 years.

We’ve also recently seen Waterford’s Vacant House Repair and Lease pilot initiative. This ensures refurbishment to suitable vacant properties is funded to bring them up to the standard required for rented accommodation. The cost of the works is deducted from lease payments over an agreed lease term and is aided by the City and County Council.

When it comes to social housing, each city can approach the issue differently, but their focus and our focus remains the same - getting much needed quality affordable residential units back to the housing market.

At Onate, we’re working to do this. Our product can help bridge the refurbishment and sale or rent of residential units and our team of experienced, specialist property lenders offer bespoke residential investment bridging loans of up to two million euro to home builders, developers, property investors and entrepreneurs. We are fast and flexible, and we assess each case on its merits. All decisions are taken in-house which means we can move quickly and with certainty. We have an appetite to lend in all locations nationally – from cities and large towns to small villages and rural locations.

If you have any further queries or to see how our lending process works, visit www.onate.com