Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD has welcomed the 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 €600m 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 €50m 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 €600m in lending over the next 3-years for the new partnership programme.

Minister Darragh O’Brien TD said, “I 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 €1.5bn of funding to the market over the next 5 years.

Chris Wilson, CEO, Fairfield Real Estate said, “At Fairfield we work to support experienced commercial property developers and owners across the UK and Ireland with competitive and flexible finance. We have exclusively partnered with Initiative Ireland to provide the same value to residential developers, leveraging Initiative Ireland’s specialist skills and residential focus. We are proud to be joining their Impact Investor community.”

Sinead Byrne, COO, Initiative Ireland said, “As a sustainable finance company, we are focused on supporting projects that reflect the underlying need for housing. We are especially focused on private housing offered at affordable or mid-market prices or social housing, because we understand the market. We also understand the challenges faced by those developers and we’re committed to working with them to overcome obstacles and deliver energy-efficient housing for everyday people across Ireland.”

Pictured above: Sinead Byrne, COO, Initiative Ireland, Padraig W. Rushe, CEO, Initiative Ireland and Darragh O’Brien TD, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. (Photo Harrison Photography).