Strengthening the Role of Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs)

Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) are key partners in delivering social and affordable housing. In recent years, they’ve provided around half of all new social homes, helping to meet urgent housing needs.

To help AHBs grow and deliver more homes, the Government is:

• Supporting a long-term plan for the sector, developed through the AHB Strategic Forum with input from key stakeholders.
• Implementing a reform roadmap to make AHBs more effective, efficient, and resilient.
• Building on successful funding schemes like the Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF), which has helped deliver homes across all local authority areas.

The Government wants AHBs to:

• Increase their capacity to deliver more homes, including specialist housing for people with specific needs.
• Restructure and merge where appropriate to improve efficiency and scale.
• Focus more on directly building homes, rather than relying on buying completed developments (turnkeys).

To help AHBs meet future housing targets, the Government will:

• Address legacy issues like debt and outdated funding models that limit delivery.
• Roll out a ‘call for proposals’ model to ensure better value for public investment and more tailored housing solutions.
• Strengthen the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) and the AHB Regulation Authority to ensure strong governance as the sector grows.

More detailed Local Authority Housing Delivery Action Plans will give AHBs the confidence to invest in staff, systems, and direct delivery—helping them play an even bigger role in solving Ireland’s housing challenges.