6. (1) A housing authority may make dwellings available for the purpose of sale to eligible applicants under affordable dwelling purchase arrangements and may, in accordance with the Housing Acts and regulations made under any of those Acts, acquire, build or cause to be built, or otherwise provide or facilitate the provision of, dwellings for that purpose.

(2) A housing authority may, for the purposes of subsection (1), enter into—

(a) arrangements with an approved housing body,

(b) arrangements with a community-led housing organisation, a housing co-operative or a community land trust,

(c) arrangements with the Land Development Agency, and

(d) public private partnership arrangements.

(3) The Minister may prescribe minimum requirements in relation to governance, previous experience, financial management and financial reporting to be met by a body or a class of bodies referred to in subsection (2)(b) before a housing authority may enter into an arrangement with such a body for the purposes of subsection (1).

(4) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, pay, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, a grant towards the cost of making dwellings available under this section to the following:

(a) a housing authority, in respect of dwellings made available by the authority or provided by an approved housing body or other person on behalf of the authority;

(b) such other body, established by or under statute, as the Minister may prescribe by order for the purposes of this section whose functions include the provision of services to a housing authority in relation to the acquisition of dwellings.

(5) In performing its functions under subsection (1), a housing authority shall have regard to the need to—

(a) counteract segregation in housing between persons of different social backgrounds, and support the long-term sustainability of diverse communities, including the inter-generational sustainability of urban communities, and

(b) ensure that a mixture of dwelling types and sizes is provided to reasonably match the requirements of eligible applicants.

(6) In performing its functions under subsection (1), a housing authority shall have regard to its housing services plan.

(7) In this section, “housing services plan” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2009.