ICSH News

ICSH Election Briefing

Availability and access to good quality, secure and affordable housing is a central focus for Election 2016. The true scale of the current housing market is not only reflected in the housing waiting lists and homelessness figures but as a broader issue encompassing households forced out of the rental market e.g. those living in overcrowded accommodation, young people unable to move out of the family home, key workers, older and disabled people in inappropriate accommodation.

NIFHA Social Housing Practitioners Conference - 24th March, Belfast

NIFHA is holding a one-day Social Housing Practitioners Conference on Thursday 24 March at the Park Avenue Hotel, Belfast.

This one-day Social Housing Practitioners Conference is aimed at practitioner staff and will be useful for Housing Officers, Maintenance Officers, Development Officers and Community Support Workers, as well as managers in these operational areas

Management and Maintenance Allowance 2016

The DECLG has announced that the annual Management and Maintenance allowance paid annually by local authorities to approved housing bodies for CLSS funded properties will remain the same for the year from 1st July 2015 to 30th June 2016 and subsequent years until further notice. These rates are €436 per unit in areas to which the general cost limit applies and €543 per unit in the administrative areas where higher cost limits apply.
 

Ministers Kelly & Coffey announce further 1,000 social housing units for construction

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly T.D., and Paudie Coffey TD, Minister of State for Housing, Planning and Co-ordination of Construction 2020 Strategy, today (26 January, 2016) announced a further allocation of funding of €182 million for the delivery of nearly 1,000 additional social housing units.

Governance and Housing Management Toolkit

The ICSH is pleased to announce that its updated Governance and Housing Management Toolkit is now available for members in the Members’ Section of this website. The toolkit updates and consolidates the previous ICSH Guide - Working for Good Governance (2008) and also includes additional advice and policy guidance in areas such as board governance and renewal, housing management policies and tenant services.

New Housing Finance Agency product for Tier 2 bodies launched

The ICSH were delighted to form part of the launch of a new lending initiative offered by the HFA specifically targeted at Tier 2 or Tier 3 AHBs which are not currently approved Certified Bodies. The product launched is tailored to AHBs with lending requirements from a minimum of €250,000 up to €1,500,000 and is specifically tailored towards property acquisitions.

Press Release: ICSH Warns Implementation of Social Housing Strategy Faces Serious Challenges

The implementation of the Social Housing Strategy is being hampered by significant infrastructural issues, which are not being dealt with quickly enough.  That’s according to Dr. Donal McManus, CEO of the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH), who was speaking today (30.11.15) at the organisation’s AGM.

 

 

Budget 2016

A summary of the main aspects of the budget relating to social housing and supports is provided below. The ICSH provided a response noting the reaffirmation of the commitments in the Social Housing Strategy noting the absence of any effective short term solutions on rent certainty, increase of the rent caps etc. to address the  current crisis in the private rented sector.
 

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