Debate contribution: Housing Emergency
Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on .
- MLA
- Mr Timothy Gaston
- Party at the time
- Traditional Unionist Voice
- Date
- 15 October 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- Housing Emergency
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4592875
Read the official Assembly record
Text
During my 11 years of involvement in politics, at local government level and now in central government, housing has been by far the number-one issue that I have encountered. Housing availability in North Antrim has been at a critical level for a number of years, as there are simply not enough houses being built to match the growing demand. As well as having a growing and ageing population, my constituency has a number of thriving industries that attract people to come there to work. The natural progression for those people is for their family to relocate to the area. All those factors have played into the problem in North Antrim. The position has grown to be a Northern Ireland-wide problem that is exacerbated by our sewerage network's limited capacity for new builds. I will concentrate my remarks on issues that I have with the Housing Executive. I must say that housing casework is the most frustrating of casework. Finding a solution is largely outside our control, apart from ensuring that a constituent has the maximum number of points. Those employed locally by the Housing Executive are a credit to the organisation, but the fact is that there are simply not enough houses to match the ever-growing demand for social housing. Take Ballymena, for example. Over the past 20 to 30 years, the Housing Executive has demolished hundreds of houses in Ballykeel, in Ballee and on the Doury Road. Sadly, those houses have not been replaced, and the lands have been turned into grassed areas. Given the limitations of the sewerage infrastructure, if there were now a desire to replace the houses, it would simply not be feasible to do so without an on-site solution, first, to separate rainwater from waste water and, secondly, to deal with it. Before leaving the subject of the Housing Executive, I highlight the need for an overhaul of how houses are allocated. The points system is out of date and fails growing families and single adults. A greater priority needs to be given to allocations made under good house management practices. Where applicable, that will allow two cases to be resolved under one move. I think of a case that I have in Bendooragh, where a family with three children, all over the age of nine, are crammed into a two-bedroom house, thanks to an award of a mere 14 points. The Housing Executive confirms that, although there is overcrowding, it will consider overcrowding for homelessness under "Accommodation not reasonable" only when there is severe overcrowding of properties. In the case that I mentioned, the family are deemed to be one bedroom short and have to make do with 10 points for overcrowding, owing to there being no exceptional circumstances, and four points for having been on the waiting list for four years. The Housing Executive will not extend the house or sell it to the family to allow them to extend it themselves. If the Housing Executive were to attach a greater priority to good house management, that family would have a better chance of being rehoused whilst another case, for someone needing to downsize, would be resolved. Housing associations are making some progress locally, but the projected number of builds lags well behind the number of houses required. With rent at an all-time high and no real long-term security for tenants, coupled with a greater reliance on co-ownership for people buying houses, the need has never been greater to see a change in gear in how the Housing Executive provides and allocates houses. The need will continue to grow, and, without serious investment, homelessness will continue to be a growing problem in Northern Ireland.
611 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 | 0.02 | 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 | 0.95 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.04 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
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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