Report of the Approved Housing Body (AHB) Strategic Forum

The Approved Housing Body Strategic Forum (AHBSF) report follows a comprehensive multi-stakeholder review of the AHB sector undertaken throughout 2024, outlines an ambitious 10-year transformative vision and a detailed roadmap of policy development reforms to enable the realisation of this vision.

There is a vital need to continue to harness the capabilities, capacity and expertise that the sector has built up, so it can continue to play a vital role in solving the current housing crisis. The reform roadmap laid out in the AHBSF report seeks to further strengthen the sector by addressing both immediate challenges, while also progressing policies that will increase the resilience, efficiency and sustainability in the years ahead.

Extensive stakeholder engagement and analysis, including national workshops, broad consultation and targeted research into international not-for-profit housing association models fed into the work for the AHB Strategic Forum. The work also drew on the relevant recommendations of the Housing Commission and the priorities outlined in the Programme for Government relevant to the AHB Sector.

Next Steps: Sectoral Policy Development Reform Programme

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) is committed to progressing these priority policy development reforms as part of the National Housing Plan, and will mobilise a sectoral reform working group involving key stakeholders.

To ensure the integrity and deliverability of the structural and financial recommendations, the Sectoral Reform Working Group will immediately commence an intensive phase of comprehensive scoping, investigation and detailed policy development. This critical foundational analysis will undertake a thorough review of the requisite legal, statutory, financial, and fiscal frameworks to support the envisaged reforms.

This work will explicitly involve consultation and collaboration with key partners, including the AHB Sector, several Government Departments & Agencies, Private Sector organisations, as well as European Partners.