Debate contribution: Housing Emergency

Debate contribution by Mr Daniel McCrossan on 15 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Daniel McCrossan

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

15 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Housing Emergency

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4592635

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I stand before the Assembly today to address a crisis that has been allowed to grow and worsen by the day under the lack of leadership of the Executive. It is a crisis that is affecting tens of thousands of families right across Northern Ireland. There is no constituency, family or community that is not affected by the real, serious challenges of the crisis. Housing is not just about having a roof over your head; it is central to our well-being, our economy and our futures. Yet, we are facing an unprecedented housing emergency that requires immediate and decisive action: not words, excuses, delays, collapsing institutions and disappearing, but action. It is a basic, fundamental right that people should have access to quality housing, yet over 47,000 households are currently on the social housing waiting list. That figure has grown exponentially in recent years. It means that tens of thousands of families are living in uncertainty, unsure when or if they will find a place to live or to call home. It is one of the biggest challenges of our time, and it is affecting people in a very serious way. Not having the basic provision of a home affects their well-being, their health and their ability to function in society. The situation has been going on for years and years. People have been on housing lists for years. People have died while waiting to be housed in Northern Ireland. Is that really acceptable? Is that the legacy of the House? Is that the legacy of consecutive Executives and their failure to resolve the issue and the growing demand for housing in our society? This year, the Executive managed to secure funding to build only 400 social housing units. It is a number so low that, if we were to continue in that trajectory, it would take 250 years to house everyone on that waiting list. That is an absolutely shocking indictment of how this place functions and how the Executive prioritise, or not, housing for people across our communities. To make matters worse, the budget cuts of nearly 40% to the Department for Communities' capital funding have crippled its ability to invest in new social housing projects. In contrast, in other UK regions, long-term capital budgets and decarbonisation funds have enabled continuous investment in housing infrastructure. Here, however, we are completely left behind. What is worse is that we recognise the problem, yet it continues to get worse. The challenges around social housing are not new. They have long been a very dark shadow over this Building and at the heart of government, but they have become more pronounced in recent times. In recent times, the right-to-buy scheme has led to over 120,000 properties in Northern Ireland being sold. It has left our Housing Executive with just 86,000 housing units, representing a total deduction, since the 1980s, of 58%. We are not building houses — we do not have enough to go round — yet we are selling the ones that we do have. Someone point to me what is wrong with that picture. It is making the situation worse. The Executive really need to address the crisis, and they need to address it now, with fresh and ambitious ideas and a housing supply strategy that not only replaces lost social housing but increases significantly the homes available to meet current and future demand. We will not get that by standing still. We will make the situation worse. We will have more people struggling on waiting lists and with their lives, which adds to other pressures on the Department of Health and other aspects of the social and economic challenges that our society already has. The proliferation of second homes and short-term holiday lets is another challenge because it is pricing people out of their local communities. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Causeway Coast and Glens, which has the highest average house prices, at £242,985, despite being one of the most deprived council areas in the UK. Young people are being priced out of their communities, and that is eroding the very fabric of our local economies and cultures. Meanwhile, our private rented sector remains under-regulated, costly and, often, substandard. Some 13% of households are in the private rented market, with average weekly rents of £109 and rising when compared to social housing rents, with no effective mechanism to enforce the decent home standard, and many tenants, especially those on low incomes, are often forced to live in very poor conditions. We hear about them every day in our offices. The rising costs of rent, coupled with increased energy and food prices, are pushing more people into debt and homelessness, with a staggering 70% increase in households presenting as homeless due to the loss of rental accommodation over the past few years. Housing is a vital part of our infrastructure. Yet, it is not being given the priority or investment that it deserves. We are seeing a 60-year low in housebuilding across Northern Ireland. That situation is exacerbated by underinvestment in our waste water infrastructure, which has stalled development of an estimated 19,000 new homes. That is some legacy for this place and how the Executive function and how they really prioritise one of the greatest issues at the heart of our people's concerns. Without urgent upgrades, particularly in areas of greatest need, housing development will remain blocked, and the cost of housing will continue to rise.

I will not. I am tight for time, Mr Stewart. The SDLP has long advocated for solutions to these interconnected issues and has called for an immediate declaration of a housing emergency. Send a message to our people that the Executive are taking this crisis seriously and will step up and act, not just put a slight slant in the Programme for Government and say that it is a priority, with no time frames, no plans on how they will achieve it and no measurable outcomes whatsoever, which is typical of how the Executive function. They put out the words with little action to follow, and the crisis gets worse. The hamster wheel continues, and people continue to suffer. There is no greater crisis than homelessness in our society. People should not be suffering in that way. It is not just the responsibility of the Minister for Communities; it is a collective one for the entire Executive. It is one that lingers from the Executive Office, right through every Department, and it needs to be a key priority for the Executive. They need to come together, remove the silo working and put people at the heart of some of these objectives. We urge the Minister:

"to work with the Minister of Finance to secure a commitment that any additional Barnett consequential funding, emanating from additional housebuilding in England and Wales, will be ring-fenced for the same purposes in Northern Ireland, with the aim of building at least 50,000 additional homes by 2032".

Some might think that that is overly ambitious, but, for the people I speak to daily who are sleeping on sofas — some are sleeping in our emergency departments — it is a very serious problem, and it points to one reality, which is the failure of the House to address the critical need of our people. Furthermore, we need a renewed commitment to tackle chronic homelessness, strengthen protections in the private rented sector and introduce a new, robust, empty homes strategy. With at least 21,000 properties lying vacant across Northern Ireland, we have a clear immediate opportunity to address short-term housing needs. That does not mean pumping £28 million into temporary accommodation that is not fit for purpose, spending £7·6 million on non-standard accommodation, such as B&Bs and hotels, and £15·4 million on temporary single housing lets. That represents an increase of 543% since 2016-17. What a legacy for the Executive. When we are out, all smiles, and the cameras are flashing, remember the consequences of the failure of the Executive to address homelessness in our society. An increase of 543%, and that does not even paint the full picture, because people are being put into units that are not suitable for their needs. We are talking about vulnerable people in our communities, people who are being put into areas that do not have the infrastructure to support them with regard to their well-being, mental health or addiction, or to police the challenges that they face. It is failing. It is taking a typical sticking-plaster approach, instead of sitting down and working out a strategy, investing in that strategy and achieving outcomes that provide people with homes for the future.

We must capitalise on this moment to bring about real change to create a Northern Ireland where every family has a home that they can afford, where communities thrive and where no one is left behind. The SDLP is calling for immediate action. I know that all Members recognise that there is a serious problem, but unless we sit down, discuss it properly and lay out a strategy, more people will be left behind. It is the core function of the Executive to ensure that we end poverty; to ensure that we end homelessness; and to ensure that everybody has the same opportunities in life to thrive and build a good life for them and their families. I urge the House to support this important motion and to recognise this crisis.

1,585 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:26 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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