Debate contribution: Programme for Government: Social Homes
Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on .
- MLA
- Mr Gordon Lyons
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 8 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Programme for Government: Social Homes
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5673995
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Up to 31 August 2026, 3,441 of the 5,850 social home starts committed to in the Programme for Government (PFG) have been delivered through the social housing development programme (SHDP). I am focused on delivering the remaining 2,409 homes in this mandate, which will depend on a budget for them being made available. The biggest risk to meeting the Programme for Government target has been confirmation of a budget at the start of each financial year. Shortly after I came into office, it was estimated that we would start construction on only 400 new social homes in 2024-25, but, because I successfully secured additional funding, we started 1,504 and completed 1,410. Again, in 2025-26, my initial budget would have secured only around 1,000 social home starts, but by securing additional budget, we were able to start 1,765 and complete 1,538. That is no way in which to plan and deliver the construction of a large and complex programme to build thousands of homes on hundreds of sites. The budget for the SHDP needs to be confirmed much earlier, and I will continue to make the case for that at the Executive.
191 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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