Initiative Ireland to Lend €600m to Build 5000 New Homes

Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien TD has welcomed today’s announcement by Initiative Ireland of its new sustainable finance partnership, for the construction of residential homes, with Fairfield Real Estate Finance.

Through this partnership, Initiative Ireland will significantly increase the scale of its lending activity by €600 million enabling small, medium and large-scale developers to deliver 5,000 new homes nationwide, over the next 3-years, supporting over 3,000 construction jobs and creating 20 new finance jobs at Initiative Ireland.

Initiative Ireland, which specialises in funding social, affordable and mid-market housing developments nationwide, is an impact finance company with a focus on delivering environmental and social impact through ethical and innovative financial solutions.

Supported by Enterprise Ireland as a High Potential Start-Up and headquartered at NovaUCD, the company aims to deliver financially inclusive and sustainable products to tackle social and environmental challenges.

To date, Initiative Ireland has funded housing projects which were financed exclusively through their impact investor community, comprising of private investors, businesses, and fund clients.

This has supported over €50 million of new social and affordable housing nationwide. Under the new venture, Initiative Ireland shall maintain its community lending programme, which promotes financial inclusion, while also targeting a further €600 million in lending over the next 3-years for the new partnership programme.

Minister Darragh O’Brien TD said he welcome news of increased funding competition within the Irish Finance Market, to support the delivery of social and affordable housing, in addition to the creation of new jobs. “It is also great to see Enterprise Ireland-backed companies, such as Initiative Ireland, successfully attracting and building partnerships with globally recognised firms, delivering and supporting new jobs here in Ireland as we work to stabilise the jobs and housing market.”

Padraig W. Rushe, CEO, Initiative Ireland said, “Over the last five years, we’ve worked with our impact investor community to deliver housing projects across the country, for social and environmental impact. We’ve built strong relationships with our borrowers and partners. We understand the urgent need for fair and flexible finance, and we aim to work with new borrowers to bring sustainability to the Irish Housing Market, helping to make housing security more accessible for everyone.”

In August 2020 the company announced a new partnership with the Credit Union Development Association (CUDA), which will enable Irish Credit Unions to provide funding to Approved Housing Bodies across Ireland. Between the CUDA partnership and the partnership announced today, Initiative Ireland is now positioned to deliver over €1.5 billion of funding to the market over the next 5 years.