Clanmil Housing Group has revealed details of a finance deal that will inject up to £180m into social housing and the wider economy.

The deal, the largest-ever of its kind in Northern Ireland, secures loans of £75m from Danske Bank and £45m from Barclays. Some £100m of this finance will be invested in building new social homes and the remainder used to refinance existing loan facilities.

The funding will also enable Clanmil to access up to £80m in statutory funding from the Department for Social Development and kick-start construction of 1,600 much-needed social homes that will house up to 5,000 people.

The investment is expected to generate almost 600 construction jobs over four-years and support more than 400 associated jobs in the supply chain.

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Steve Amos, Chair of Clanmil Housing, said: "This is really good news in a tough lending market. Faced with growing demand for social housing and increasing constraints on statutory funding, our challenge is to find new funding sources that will support continued investment in social housing and make the available public money go further.

"Thanks to strong working relationships with both banks and their confidence in Clanmil’s financial management, we have been able to agree a mix of funding at very competitive rates and with a range of tenures to support the delivery of such a large affordable housing investment programme.

"This funding leaves Clanmil well placed to continue to play a major role in the provision of good affordable homes for people in housing need. The Northern Ireland economy will also benefit from much needed jobs for the local construction industry."

Welcoming the announcement of additional funding by Clanmil, Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland said: "This funding will help provide an additional 1,600 social homes throughout Northern Ireland and will be welcomed by prospective tenants and the building industry. The next three years of the Social Housing Development Programme will see housing associations significantly step up output to deliver 2,000 new homes each year. Clanmil will play a key role in achieving these targets and this £120 million loan will be invaluable in partnering match funding from my Department to allow these ambitious targets to be met."

(CD)