Member's statement: Housing: Public-sector Assets
Member's statement by Mrs Ciara Ferguson on .
- MLA
- Mrs Ciara Ferguson
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 13 May 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Housing: Public-sector Assets
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4488567
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank Development Trusts NI, which briefed our MLAs last week on community asset transfer, particularly in the context of housing need not only in my constituency of Foyle but across society in the North. There is an inextricable link between community asset transfer — community wealth building — and housing that surrounds the vital importance of delivering a socially productive use of land and property and achieving equality of housing for all. Across our Executive, Departments should be updating and publicising their asset register, as allowing for full transparency on the use and location of all government assets will make it easier to identify land, whether it is surplus or underutilised, for housing development and community use. Government bodies should be legally required to map and publish their register of all their land and buildings. Land and Property Services (LPS) could collect and publish that information in a consistent and accessible manner. Third-sector organisations are often to the fore of delivering essential services and helping to improve people's life and well-being. They should be given the right to purchase, lease, manage or use public-sector land and buildings unless it is in the public interest not to do so. A paramount area of consideration must be the extent to which those organisations' proposed use of the asset can contribute to our previous Programme for Government (PFG) objectives, particularly those on reducing housing stress. If we are to get serious about eradicating homelessness and reducing housing stress and the continued over-reliance on temporary forms of accommodation, which we have all heard about today in headline news, that vital work needs to be progressed for our families. Although the primary aim of departmental officials is often to maximise capital receipts from assets, there are clear circumstances wherein the social benefit and social value that stands to be realised must be examined. I once again call on the Minister to publish the housing supply strategy in the first instance and then to work with the Department to deliver on the recommendations that are in the Department for Communities' October 2022 report on recommendations to advance community wealth building, particularly on working with our largest social housing landlord, in order to develop and implement a community-led housing framework.
374 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.96).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.96 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.98 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.02 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:23 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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