Annual Report Press Release
The Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) has today (22nd November 2024) published its Annual Report for 2023. The report outlines the significant progress made by AHBRA against its five strategic objectives in 2023. Having laid substantial foundations to establish it’s organisational and regulatory framework over the first two years of its operation, AHBRA is proud to report considerable progress in its regulatory activities.
The annual report highlights AHBRA’s key achievements in 2023 including the:
- Launch of a Statutory Assessment Programme
- Advancement of the second year of the Monitoring Programme (which yielded a 94% Response Rate)
- Use of its powers for the first time with the commencement of a Statutory Investigation
- Signing of its first MOU with the Charities Regulator to increase regulatory alignment
- Increased engagement with Notifiable Events and Concerns processes
- A significant campaign of recruitment was undertaken in 2023 and AHBRA continued to expand
- Relocation to new offices
The 2023 Annual Monitoring programme demonstrated significant levels of engagement from the AHB sector with a response rate of 94%. Information provided by AHBs as part of this programme informed AHBRA’s Sectoral Analysis published in April 2024. This analysis indicated that the sector owned or managed 61,000 dwellings (13% growth), with an income stream of €1.9 billion a year. The sector of 445 AHBs is reporting assets of approximately €8.3 billion and total liabilities of €7 billion.
On the publication of the Annual Report, the CEO of AHBRA, Fergal O’Leary, stated, “Our vision is for Approved Housing Bodies to demonstrate their compliance with our governance, finance, property, and tenancy management standards. This Annual Report showcases the significant strides we made in 2023 towards realising this vision by advancing our five strategic objectives.
In 2023, we actively developed our Regulatory Framework, including the Annual Monitoring Programme and AHB Assessment Programme, which provided invaluable insights into the challenges and risks of a complex, diverse and rapidly growing sector. We are committed to leveraging this information to continuously inform and enhance our risk-based regulatory approach and in doing so contribute to funder and tenant assurance and the sustainability of public investment in the sector.”