Government taking 25-year loan for social housing
The European Investment Bank is to provide a 25-year loan for a social housing programme.
The new €300m investment fund hopes to build 2,000 homes in the next three years, and is the first time the European Investment Bank is funding social housing in Ireland.
The EIB is a non-profit long-term bank which gives loans to EU member states, with a stated mission to support the US's policies and objectives. The loan will be managed here by the Housing Finance Agency.
Jonathan Taylor, EIB vice president, said such a loan is a good option for the Government.
"The loan should go towards social housing for residential accommodation - [though] I'm sure there will be other pars of the package that he Minster will want to touch on," he said.
"We're a triple-A rated institution, which means we can borrow at the finest rates. We're expected – and obliged – to pass on the full benefit of that to the people we lend to.
"So it provides a better rate than is the case for anybody else in the market."
The housing is expected to be concentrated in Dublin for the most part.
