Page 23 - Council Journal Winter 2019

FEATURE Home Building Finance
€100 Million Of Funding
Approved Through Home
Building Finance Ireland
The state backed lender for small and medium sized builders and developers says it Happroved just over €100m in funding for the construction of over 500 homes throughout
Ireland in its first nine months in business.
ome Building Finance Ireland they're being built by companies and (HBFI) was established in they will then be sold onto an January of this year with a approved housing body and they will fund of €750m from the increase the supply of social housing,"
Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. she added. In addition to the €102m The funding is intended to facilitate funding approved to date, HBFI has the construction of up to 7,500 homes established a pipeline of applications
over the next five years. for future development potential. The 15 individual developments Paschal Donohoe TD, Minister for
approved for funding range in size Finance and Public Expenditure & Dara Deering, Head of HBFI
from 10 units to 76. Reform, at the time of the launch said: €9 in every €10 approved so far has “HBFI is a smart, efficient and
to quality projects that can help address Ireland’s housing shortage. We are actively targeting the existing gap in the market that has made it hard for small and medium sized builders/developers and we plan to facilitate this market segment in growing substantially over the next 5 years and beyond”.
been for developments outside of targeted measure that is just one Dublin, although the majority of aspect of the multi-faceted approach approved developments are in the the Government is taking to resolve
commuter counties surrounding the capital.
the housing crisis. It will facilitate the construction of up to 7,500 new homes throughout the country by optimising the use of resources already available within the State and with minimum risk to the taxpayer. With these strong foundations in place I am confident of HBFI’s future success and I wish the new team all the best in their endeavours”.
Two quite sizeable developments of over 50 units each have been approved in counties Cork and Kerry.
However the Government has emphasised that it is not in the business of providing bailouts to bust builders, as the Finance Minister said at a HBFI in July of this year
"We've seen activity commence in four of the 15 projects. That means there are diggers on site, foundations are being laid, homes are being built and the first homes will come to market before Christmas," Dara Deering, CEO of HBFI said.
Eoghan Murphy TD, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, said: “There are no easy solutions to the housing crisis but this targeted measure in the creation of HBFI will have a real and tangible impact in addressing one of the underlying problems in the market today. It will build on the progress already made in boosting supply. It is a very significant step and restores another once broken part of our housing sector in a sustainable way”.
Attending an update on the scheme, Paschal Donohoe said the agency will only finance organisations that "we are confident of getting our money back from".
Almost half of the units approved under HBFI funding are for three bedroom homes aimed at first time buyers and families.
"What we are in the business of is providing more homes, in particular, outside of Dublin where we know that, until this organisation was set up, the banks were not in a position to meet the level of demand that was there," said Mr Donohoe.
"It's important to focus on increasing the housing supply, but we need to get a mix of homes and apartments.
"The homes are typically three bedroom homes. We're looking at it on a national basis and importantly we're seeing increasing supply in the private sector," Ms Deering explained.
Michael Broderick, HBFI Project Lead, said: “We are ready with an experienced team of specialist residential lending managers to lend
"These are loans, we expect the money to be repaid and the money is being lent out at a commercial rate of interest."
"In the case of about 25% of the houses being supported by HBFI,
Council Journal 23