Events

Multi-unit developments (MUDs) are estates where an owners’ management company, or OMC for short, is responsible for maintaining shared facilities such as gardens, amenity spaces, halls, corridors, and parking. These managed estates are often apartment buildings or duplexes, but they can also be townhouses or stand-alone houses that share common facilities. These communities rely on OMCs for them to be successful and sustainable.

With the increasing number of apartments, MUDs, and OMCs across the country, The Housing Agency is holding evening information meetings for stakeholders, including residents, owners, and directors of OMCs.

The meetings will cover:

• Challenges faced by OMCs & managed estates
• Roles and responsibilities
• Resources available
   

Events will be held at:

Clayton Hotel, Sligo
Tuesday, 25 October

Chartered Accountants Ireland, Dublin 2
Tuesday, 8 November

Boyne Valley Hotel & Country Club, Drogheda
Tuesday, 15 November

Glenroyal Hotel & Leisure Club, Maynooth
Tuesday, 22 November

Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone
Monday, 28 November

Attendance is free of charge, but registration is required.

Please register by clicking on your preferred location above, through Eventbrite, or by email to MUD@housingagency.ie.

Evening Programme

6:45pm     Registration (tea/coffee provided)
7pm          Presentation from the Housing Agency
7:30pm     Open forum
8:30pm     Closes

Information and Resources on OMCs and MUDs

Previous events in the series took place in:

• Crowne Plaza Hotel, Blanchardstown Town Centre, Dublin | Wednesday 15 January 2020
• Red Cow Moran Hotel, Dublin | Wednesday 29 January 2020
• Clayton Hotel Dublin Airport | Wednesday 5 February 2020
• Lord Bagenal, Leighlinbridge, Carlow | Wednesday 12 February 2020
• Clayton Hotel Silver Springs, Cork | Wednesday 19 February 2020
• Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick | Wednesday 26 February 2020
• Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan, Dublin | Wednesday 4 March 2020

To register your interest in attending the next Tenant Engagement Workshop please complete your information at the following link - register your interest.

Tenant engagement is an important part of international best practice in social housing policy. It includes activities ranging from the effective distribution of information among tenants, through to the involvement of tenants in housing management, governance, and ownership.

International research has demonstrated the benefits that accrue from tenant engagement policies, both for tenants and social housing providers. In Ireland, tenant engagement is a growing field. Some housing providers have invested in dedicated tenant engagement teams, but the principles and practices of tenant engagement are of relevance to all those working in social housing delivery and management.

The Housing Agency is collaborating with Supporting Communities, Northern Ireland’s Independent Tenant Organisation, to deliver a half-day workshop for Irish housing professionals working in the field of tenant engagement. The workshop will allow participants to explore best practice in tenant engagement, and consider the future direction of the field in Ireland.

The workshop will take place on Thursday 29 September 2022, from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

Please note that the workshop is a repeat of the workshop delivered in July 2021. It is aimed at those who were unable to attend last years workshop or those new to the field.

The workshop will:

• Provide examples of best practice
• Provide a discussion forum on the future of tenant engagement in Ireland
• Enable housing professionals working in tenant engagement to meet, network with and learn from peers in other organisations.

The Housing Agency in collaboration with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) presents a webinar introducing the SEAI’s new Electric Vehicle Apartment Charger Grant Scheme.

This event will be of interest to a wide audience- owners’ management companies, residents, property management professionals, and other stakeholders in the multi-unit developments sector. 

The one-hour webinar will take place at 12.30pm on Thursday 22 September 2022.

Registration is free of charge and is via this Zoom link-

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EH9VLksBQiCGjb1zYQSCLw

Questions may be emailed to MUD@housingagency.ie

The session will be recorded for future use.

Places are limited to 1,000 attendees on a first-come first-served basis.

By registering for this webinar you consent to the processing of your personal data (name and email address) by the Housing Agency and SEAI for the purposes of event management.

The Housing Agency’s Research Summer Seminar Series showcases new and interesting research on housing in Ireland conducted, or supported by, The Housing Agency. The series brings together a variety of academics, practitioners, and public servants. The series will be of interest to housing practitioners, academics, legislators, policy makers, academics, and all those working in the housing, local government, justice and equality sectors.

Session 2 focused on issues facing Local Authorities, and featured presentations on void management and tenant engagement. The first presentation was delivered by Jon Slade, Director at Campbell Tickell, and was entitled Empty Homes Performance - Can we do better. The second presentation was by Prof. Padraic Kenna of NUI Galway, and his presentation was entitled Tenant participation or tenant collaboration? Which way for Irish LA tenants.

You can re-watch this webinar on our youtube channel. 

Jon Slade is a Director for Campbell Tickell, one of the UK’s leading consultancies working on social housing issues. Jon leads on asset and housing management for CT and has been working on issues pertinent to empty homes performance for over 20 years.

Prof. Padraic Kenna lectures on housing law and housing rights, property and land law at NUI Galway, and has published some six books and over 50 journal articles on these topics. Previously, he  worked in housing as a practitioner at both local authority and housing association level in the UK and Ireland. Padraic is the Director of the Centre for Housing Law, Rights and Policy, engaging in housing law, rights and policy research at national and European level, publishing reports on key housing issues.

The first session of the Research Summer Series was on the topic of renting in Ireland and took place on the 9th of June. It focused on the private rented sector and featured insights from Dr. Richard Waldron, of Queen’s University Belfast, who discussed housing precarity and “generation rent" and Anne Murphy, Research Analyst at the Housing Agency, who looked at The Housing Agency’s national study of Irish housing experiences, focusing on the difference between renters and homeowners. You can watch the event back on our YouTube channel. 

The Housing Agency’s Research Summer Seminar Series will highlight new and interesting research in the area of housing in Ireland and will showcase research conducted, or supported by The Housing Agency. This series will bring together a variety of academics, practitioners, and public servants. The series will be of interest to housing practitioners, academics, legislators, policy makers, academics, and all those working in the housing, local government, justice and equality sectors.

There will be three lunchtime webinars as follows:

Session 1: Experiences of Renting in Ireland (took place on the 9th June)

The first session of the Research Summer Series is on the topic of renting in Ireland, with a particular focus of the private rented sector. This webinar will feature insights from Dr. Richard Waldron, of Queen’s University Belfast, who will discuss housing precarity and “generation rent.” Anne Murphy, Research Analyst at the Housing Agency, will look at The Housing Agency’s national study of Irish housing experiences, focusing on the difference between renters and homeowners.

You can watch the event back on our YouTube channel. 

Dr. Richard Waldron: Generation Rent

This presentation connects debates within the Generation Rent literature with more recent work on housing precarity, or the uncertainty arising from the experience of insecure, unaffordable and poor-quality housing. The article develops and applies a Housing Precarity Index (HPI) to data on private renters in Ireland to provide a nuanced account of the extent and severity of precarities in the Irish rental sector among differing sub-groups during a housing market crash and “recovery” period (2008 - 2016). The article identifies the key drivers of housing precarity and assesses their contribution to further declining living standards among renters into the future.

Richard Waldron is a lecturer in the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University Belfast. His research relates to the intersection of urban planning policy, housing markets and strategies of urban economic development. His work has been published in leading journals, including Housing Studies, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research and Environment and Planning A.

Anne Murphy: The housing experiences and aspirations series: focus on renters 2020

This presentation will cover The Housing Agency’s national study series of Irish housing experiences, attitudes and aspirations, which has been running since 2018. It will share findings about renters’ housing experiences compared with owners, using the 2020 data.

Anne Murphy joined the Agency as a Research Analyst in September 2020 and has worked on a range of research projects. The main focus of Anne’s work is the Agency’s behaviours and attitudes national survey series. Before joining the Agency, Anne managed a medical library, was an information specialist on systematic review teams and served for over a decade on a Health Research Ethics Committee

Session 2 of the Research Summer Series will be held on the 28^th July and will relate to Local Authorities. This session will feature a presentation on Tenant Engagement from Dr. Padraic Kenna of NUI Galway, and a session on Void Management by Campbell Tickell. You can register for this event here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_c1sINDSHTdeAzcLYTVqF7A

The third session of the Summer Series will be held on the 15^th September. More details to follow.

The Housing Agency, in collaboration with The Law Society of Ireland, recently presented a webinar delivering insights into the Housing for All actions to reform owners’ management companies (OMCs).

With apartment living on the rise, this recording will be of interest to a wide audience including legal and housing practitioners, property management professionals, and other stakeholders in the multi-unit developments (MUDs) and OMC sector.

Expert speakers explored Housing for All actions for regulation in relation to service charges, sinking funds, and dispute resolution in MUDs.

All information is correct as of broadcast date. The views expressed in the recording below do not necessarily represent the views of The Housing Agency.

Broadcast date: 4 May 2022.

Click below to watch the recording of the webinar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbu-gQkkkc0

Webinar: Owners’ management companies- a discussion of legal reform under Housing for All

The Housing Agency in collaboration with the Law Society of Ireland presents insights on the Housing for All actions to reform owners’ management companies (OMCs).

Expert panellists Suzanne Bainton, Paul Mooney, and Rory O’Donnell will explore Housing for All actions for regulation in relation to service charges, sinking funds, and dispute resolution in multi-unit developments (MUDs).

This event will be of interest to a wide audience including legal and housing practitioners, property management professionals, and other stakeholders in the MUDs and OMC sector. 

The one-hour webinar will take place at 12.30pm on Wednesday 4 May 2022.

Registration is free of charge and is via this Zoom link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HVmXxJ85TG65A9tNWVR0yA

Attendance at the live event carries one hour’s CPD for Law Society members.

Webinar Programme

- Introduction & background

- Panellists' insights on Housing for All actions

- Panel discussion and online Q&A.

Questions for panellists for the Q&A may be emailed to MUD@housingagency.ie

The session will be recorded for future use.

Places are limited to 1,000 attendees on a first-come first-served basis.

We are delighted to announce that booking and registration for the 2022 Housing Practitioners’ Conference is now open and you can register at the details provided below. This Conference will take place as an in-person event this year for the first time since 2019.

The 2022 Conference will take place in the Grand Hotel Malahide on Thursday, May 26th and a half day on Friday, May 27th.

The Conference is being organised as a joint-initiative between the Institute of Public Administration and the Housing Agency.

Programme

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, will open the Conference which will involve a day and a half of expert speakers and workshops discussing best practice and policy on housing, under the umbrella of Housing for All: Supply, Sustainability and Capacity.

The full programme can be found at this link: PROGRAMME LINK

Registration/Booking

You can book your place at the conference at the link provided here: REGISTRATION LINK.

To book your place you will need your contact email address, a Purchase Order Number and an email address for invoicing.

The cost of attending is €320 per person (not including accommodation).

For every 5 participants that are booked to attend, a 6th participant can attend for free.

Accommodation

Accommodation at the Grand Hotel Malahide can be booked separately at a reduced rate and a link to do so will be provided in the coming days.

There are also a number of alternative accommodation options in the vicinity of Malahide and we will forward a list of them for your convenience in due course.

Please forward these details to any colleagues who may be interested in attending.

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Summary Report

A Summary Report of the conference can be read here. 

As you will be aware the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) was established on the 1st February 2021 and all AHBs are deemed to be registered with AHBRA from 1 January 2022. The interim Regulatory Committee was dissolved on 31st December 2021 and as such, the Voluntary Regulation Code no longer applies. The most recent assessment cycle in 2021 was the last to be carried out by the Regulation Office. The Housing Agency wish to acknowledge those AHBs who have signed up to and engaged with Voluntary Regulation over the past number of years. You have demonstrated great commitment to meeting the Voluntary Regulation Code and Standards and provided support and co-operation to the Regulation Office in the operation of its duties. You should now be well placed to make the transition to statutory regulation.

If you have any queries relating to Statutory Regulation you should refer these to the AHBRA at info@ahbregulator.ie.

The website is available here. 

The Housing Agency’s Statement of Strategy, 2022-2024 was launched yesterday by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD.

The Statement of Strategy outlines how more affordable housing, increasing the supply of social and private homes and addressing social inclusion issues such as homelessness and ageing will be the priorities for the work of The Housing Agency over the next three years.

The Statement of Strategy frames the work of The Housing Agency under three broad themes:

1. Being a centre for housing knowledge;
2. Bridging housing supply and demand; and
3. Building capacity for housing

It outlines how, over the coming years, The Housing Agency will use research, informed policy insights and data to work to achieve a housing system that meets the housing needs of our nation and promotes viable, sustainable communities.

The Housing Agency’s Strategic Plan 2022-2024 has been framed in the context of supporting Housing for All, the Government’s housing plan for Ireland and key trends in the housing system including:

• Diverse and changing housing needs for people living in Ireland.
• Long-term government policy and strategic planning for the Irish housing system.
• A continuing focus on building inclusive, sustainable communities.

The Housing Agency’s Statement of Strategy, 2022-2024 can be read HERE 

An executive summary of the Statement of Strategy can be read HERE 

A list of actions The Housing Agency will provide input under Housing for All can be read HERE 

A recording of the session can be found HERE

The slides of the session can be found HERE