We hosted a webinar on Financing the Future of Social & Affordable Housing on Thursday 24 June at 11am. The webinar featured Affordable Housing Body (AHB) leaders who have adopted innovative funding models and financial advisers who have experience in raising debt and equity finance for social and affordable housing in Ireland and the UK.

Meeting the need for social and affordable housing in Ireland requires new financial thinking. In recent years, the sector has moved beyond traditional exchequer funding to raising loan finance from state and private sources. With the establishment of a new regulator, the Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) have begun the move from the voluntary sector to the state regulated sector. This both imposes new standards of financial management and enhances the AHBs’ attractiveness to private lenders as borrowers and, potentially, as guarantors and issuers of listed debt. The UK social housing sector has already moved a step further in this direction, with listed bonds now a commonplace form of financing for social housing providers, allowing them to achieve lower cost debt from a more diverse and sustainable base of funders.

Speakers:

Sharon Cosgrove, CEO, Oaklee Housing

Fiona O'Driscoll, Fund Manager for Real Estate, Appian Asset Management

Brian O'Gorman, CEO, Clúid Housing

Antoine Pesenti, Head of Capital Markets, Gresham House PLC

The webinar was moderated by David Mangan, Corporate Partner, Mason Hayes & Curran LLP.

To watch the webinar recording, please click below.