Debate contribution: Housing Emergency

Debate contribution by Mr Mark Durkan on 15 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Mark Durkan

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 4592914

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle.

I thank everyone for their contributions on a critical issue that is quickly deteriorating to the point of no return. The debate has been healthy, but it cannot serve as yet another debate on the dire state that is the housing crisis in this region. We have heard about our ever-worsening statistics: 47,000 households are on the growing waiting list; 35,000 households are in housing stress; over 4,600 children are living in temporary accommodation; and housebuilding has fallen to a 60-year low. What was once unimaginable here has become an everyday occurrence. Homes are the foundation on which people build their life and are the building blocks of a thriving society. Our motion is constructive. It contains suggestions and solutions. We will not be lectured on being a constructive Opposition by an Executive that do not do construction. While we welcome the fact that housing is a priority in the Programme for Government, it merely notes that it will prevent homelessness by:

"making it brief, rare and non-recurrent".

Today's reality for many families and individuals is that homelessness is far from brief but is becoming increasingly common and often recurrent. Homelessness is a deep hole that is extremely difficult to escape. That situation been made doubly difficult by the decimation of homelessness prevention programmes, which undermines the efforts of the organisations that were, rightly, lauded by Ms Ferguson, who works so hard in that field every day. I commend those organisations, the staff of the Housing Executive and the staff of our housing associations, who deal with extremely stressful situations and do their best as they work with people who are in stress in a system that is buckling. Homelessness breeds hopelessness. The Executive need to do more than to build hope, however; they need to build homes. The PFG promises to deliver affordable homes and to bring forward the housing supply strategy for 100,000 homes over a 15-year period. It does that at a time when fewer than 600 new social homes will be built this year, falling woefully short of targets. In the same year, it is highly likely that we will sell off 400 or 500 Housing Executive properties, with the Minister refusing to even consider a moratorium on the right-to-buy scheme. That is just nuts. The reality is that warm words have not and will not deliver on promises. The Executive's track record on housing is pretty dire. In April, we were advised that the housing supply strategy, which was billed in the previous mandate as the answer to all our housing woes, was in good shape and awaiting Executive approval. Meanwhile, the targets on social housing completions have not been achieved for four out of the past five years. The cuts that have been imposed on DFC's capital budget will allow just a fraction of the target build, and that situation is not likely to improve any time soon. The proposed cuts to the housing association grant and total cost indicators (TCIs) could sound the death knell for the social housing development programme, with only 17 out of 61 potential schemes being considered financially viable. Mr Carroll asked where we are on the restructuring of the Housing Executive. Gerry need not worry about the Housing Executive borrowing, because by the time that it is allowed to build again, there will be nothing left for it to borrow against. Instead of tangible progress, we have witnessed an Executive that are focused on optics and headline-grabbing sound bites with no real follow-through. Even more troubling than that is the fact that we have a Minister who continues to avoid scrutiny. The Opposition welcomed the Speaker's ruling on accountability a few months ago following Minister Lyons's refusal to answer Assembly questions. There has been some improvement in that over the intervening months, but, when I recently requested data on the number of children who are living in temporary accommodation, the Minister did not provide that information. We did, however, get it via FOI. If the Minister who is charge of housing is unwilling to, at least, be transparent, what chance do we have of the Executive's admitting their shortcomings, recognising the need for improvement and genuinely ensuring that thousands of families can secure a home? The information revealed that over 4,600 children are currently living in temporary accommodation; children whose lives are unstable, moving from hotel to B&B and unable to put down roots. They have no space of their own, live out of suitcases, have nowhere to do homework or enjoy a family meal and have no friends to call in for in the street. Building families and society on such an unstable footing means that a huge cohort of children has been left without their village and the support networks that are essential to build their lives. We live in a society where obtaining an emergency placement in your home town has become a luxury. One case that stands out in my mind is that of single mother with a child who has profound disabilities. That child requires round-the-clock care and regular access to the GP and, often, visits Altnagelvin Area Hospital, where health staff are familiar with their specific needs. After losing their private rented accommodation and becoming homeless, that family has been shifted miles away and stripped of that vital support network. The most vulnerable do not stand a chance in the current system. We are no longer just Generation Rent; we have become "Generation B&B". Temporary accommodation costs are soaring; £34 million in the previous financial year. There has been a tenfold increase in non-standard accommodation spend over the past five years. It is worth remembering that the next time that financial constraints are used as an excuse for the Executive's lack of creativity. It is no surprise that we have seen a significant increase in spending in that area after the removal of funding for homelessness prevention programmes, but it should be a concern that increased demand will have a knock-on effect on the private rental market, pushing up prices and plunging more people into debt and further risk of homelessness. Temporary accommodation has been used as a sticking plaster, as Mr McCrossan said, for the gaping wound of the housing shortage, but, rather than stemming the flow, it is actually sucking millions of pounds out of the system and sucking the life out of the people who rely on it. The catastrophic impact that the underfunding of water and waste water infrastructure would have on housing development was understood — it has been understood for a long time — but the Executive have chosen not to act. Even now, there is a notable lack of cooperation between DFC and DFI to get a handle on that growing issue. Responses so far have been pretty vague and underwhelming. Sadly, it does not inspire confidence that the issue will be improved, never mind resolved, any time soon. No detail has been given as to what level of funding might be required or how that would work. There are so many questions, and, to date, we have not had any answers. Two major housing projects in my constituency have been brought to a standstill. It is unacceptable that thousands of homes in an area with one of the highest rates of homelessness have been placed in jeopardy as a result of that issue. We need to see clear and measurable plans moving forward, even exploring cross-border options where practicable. It is evident that that is a barrier to the housing aims that are outlined in the PFG. Andy Allen spoke well. I know that he is very passionate about the issue. He bemoaned our lack of ideas. He then proceeded to steal my thunder on the ideas that I was going to put forward on planning and the reuse of public land. Kellie Armstrong spoke, one minute, about the need for collective responsibility and, the next minute, about Nichola Mallon's failure — as, I think, she put it — to deal with the waste water issue when she was a Minister. As Minister for Infrastructure, Nichola Mallon went to the Executive with a Living With Water plan, seeking a £1·4 billion budget. The Executive agreed, but the budget vanished. She went with proposals for an infrastructure commission, but, as I said last week, it has been sucked into the Executive Office, where all good ideas go to die. Lastly, the empty homes strategy could make a significant impact if utilised effectively. It is perverse that, in a society where more people are becoming homeless, the number of vacant properties is increasing. We do not need to reinvent the wheel here; models in other jurisdictions could be adapted. Furthermore, the reuse of those properties would circumvent the hurdles that water infrastructure is placing in the way of new builds. A few Members mentioned the hidden hand of paramilitaries and how they exploit and abuse the housing system and exacerbate the housing crisis. That makes the Minister for Communities and his stand-ins pandering to them all the more preposterous. I will finish by reminding Members that housing was a central driver in the fight for civil rights in Northern Ireland.

I commend the motion.

1,545 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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