EIB backs Irish social housing project

Ireland’s first social housing Public-Private Partnership

Hundreds of new homes are being built in Dublin, Louth, Wicklow and Kildare with the help of multi-million euro financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The lending arm of the European Union is providing half of the 25 year financing for the initial stage of Ireland’s first social housing Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

Ireland suffers from a social housing shortage and the PPP model is now being used to develop a total of 1,500 units across the state that will provide badly needed homes for low-income families. The €120 million initial phase project will see 534 new homes built by Comhar Housing. The new housing units will be managed by Choice Housing, part of the Comhar consortium, under a 25 year financing agreement and will then be returned to the Irish State.

First EIB financing for social housing scheme

Bank of Ireland, Macquarie Capital and Korea Development Bank are also backing the project, but it’s the first time in Europe that the EIB has financed a PPP social housing scheme.

"The European Investment Bank recognises the urgent need to increase the supply of social housing in Ireland and is pleased to provide half of the financing," said Andrew McDowell, Vice President of the EIB.

The €120 million programme will improve the lives of hundreds of families across the country in the coming years and follows the close cooperation between the EIB and Irish partners to tackle the housing crisis.

The 534 homes are being built across five local authority areas but Dublin City Council will act on behalf of them all. “Given the scale of social housing needs facing the country, and local authorities in particular, it is important that new and innovative approaches to increasing social housing supply are developed,” said Dublin City Council’s Brendan Kenny.

Ireland’s Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy, said the project represents a significant milestone in the provision of social housing in Ireland. “The valuable support of the European Investment Bank and Bank of Ireland for this project demonstrates their faith in what is an innovative social housing delivery mechanism, and I would like to acknowledge the hard work of the range of public and private sector stakeholders that have brought the project to this stage,” he added.