Debate contribution: Homelessness: South Down

Debate contribution by Mr Andrew McMurray on 22 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Andrew McMurray

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

22 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Homelessness: South Down

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4608615

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I want to raise the issue of homelessness in my constituency of South Down and, more broadly, in Northern Ireland. I think that I can be confident in saying that there is no Member for whom homelessness is not a regular issue. This is my first opportunity to secure an Adjournment debate, so I spent a bit of time reflecting on the issues that I want to raise. There is a concept model known as Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Put very simply, it is a pyramid of needs that human beings require to be satisfied. If the base needs are not or cannot be met, those above them cannot be fulfilled. Some Members may be familiar with it. For me, it may be a hangover from being the child of two social workers or from my postgraduate studies in youth community work, but, as a concept, it has always stuck with me. We in the Chamber are lucky and privileged to be in the position that we are in. It would be remiss of me not to use my position to speak up for those who are not as lucky or fortunate as I am. Before I go on, I want to state that, due to how the statistics are compiled, I will refer to council areas as well as constituency areas at times. That is just a hangover from the way in which they are compiled. As of 30 June, 58,241 people were officially homeless in Northern Ireland. That is one in 33 people, up from one in 34 people in the space of six months. Of those, 5,447 were homeless in the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area. Just 10 years ago, the figure was 2,536. The number of individuals in statutory homelessness in Newry, Mourne and Down has increased by 115% over the past 10 years. That is the third-highest increase among the 11 council areas. The provision of temporary accommodation is skewed towards Belfast, so, for every homeless person in Newry, Mourne and Down, there are probably others who have had to leave the area in order to move into temporary accommodation in Belfast or beyond. Indeed, an instance was recalled to me of when an individual was placed on a bus from Downpatrick to Derry in order to receive shelter for a night. While the issue may manifest itself in a city or town outside my constituency, that is not to say that it is not a problem in my constituency. In Northern Ireland, nearly six of every 10 households in statutory homelessness in June were families, and close to 20,000 homeless individuals were children and young people under 18. To paraphrase Bruce Springsteen in 'The Ghost of Tom Joad':

"No home.... no peace, no rest".

I refer back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs: those people are, quite literally, surviving, and all other development needs are put on the back-burner. Those numbers are shocking, but they are not even the full story. There are also the so-called hidden homeless, who would be eligible for help from the Housing Executive but have not yet come forward. For example, staff at one local homelessness organisation told me about a young man in his 20s who had come through the care system and was now sofa-surfing. After a while, he had outstayed his welcome. At that point, he emerged from being hidden homeless and sought support from said organisation. Nobody knows for sure how many people are affected by hidden homelessness. In 2020, a report by the charity Crisis estimated that the number could be between 70,000 and 112,000, or 9% to 15% of all households in Northern Ireland. It is fair to say that Northern Ireland as a whole is experiencing a homelessness crisis, but, first and foremost, homelessness is a personal crisis for each individual affected by it. It is a deeply frightening and unsettling experience to find yourself without a safe and secure home. Research shows that homelessness has a negative impact on people's health and life expectancy. It leads to increased risk of contact with the criminal justice system as well as other negative physical, psychological and social impacts. A member of staff at one of the local homelessness organisations in Downpatrick spoke to me about the poverty of hope that many homeless people experience and the devastating impact that that has on their lives. I will read out her words, because she put it better than I ever could:

"Our young people, in general, can survive hard things if they know that something better is on its way. Despair leads some of our young people to the darkest of places. Suicide and self-harming behaviours, drug use and overdoses, violence and sexual assault are experiences we hear about from our young people daily. For some of our young people, we live in real fear of the phone call that tells us they didn't make it, and we have lost young people to these things. We have supported young people living in tents, in abusive relationships, young people with nobody else who would think to check on them. When you see something on the news about a young person in our catchment areas who has experienced something horrific, the chances are we know, or knew, them. None of these experiences happen in a vacuum, though. In many of these situations, you can trace back beyond the individual and community trauma to political choices, to inequality, poverty and emaciated public services. The experience of homelessness and often the equally traumatic events that lead to them do great harm to people's confidence. It is crucial that high-quality support is provided in addition to a home."

We discussed the housing emergency in the Assembly last week. You cannot prevent homelessness without an adequate supply of housing. That cannot be overstated, and it was discussed in the Chamber last week during the debate on the SDLP's motion. As such, I will focus on some of the other issues that are faced by homelessness organisations in South Down and beyond. I also pay tribute to the charities and organisations working in the sector and the very valuable work that they do in supporting men, women, young people and families in South Down at a very vulnerable point in their lives. I thank them for taking the time to speak to me in preparation for this discussion and for sharing their experiences and concerns with me. All the conversations with those involved in the organisations were humbling and, at times, moving. MACS Supporting Children and Young People provides supported housing and a range of other support services for children and young people aged between 16 and 25 who are homeless, are at risk of homelessness or are struggling in other ways. The Simon Community operates a hostel in Downpatrick, where it offers temporary accommodation and support to people who present as homeless. The Housing Executive in Downpatrick does its best to support people experiencing homelessness and housing stress short of homelessness every day and to move them into accommodation as soon as possible. I also thank Homeless Connect in Belfast, which shared its insights into homelessness statistics and policy issues with me. Those organisations provide a roof over the head of people who are experiencing homelessness, but they also provide invaluable personal support, which is so important to helping people to move on and successfully sustain a tenancy in the future. Voluntary organisations, such as MACS and the Simon Community, are doing all that they can to help, but conditions in the sector are very difficult. Very often, those organisations work with individuals to place them in temporary accommodation. The word "temporary" suggests that that is for only a short period, but that is not always, or even usually, the case. I met a gentleman who became homeless because of a relationship breakdown and slept in his car for some time. He has now been living in temporary accommodation in Downpatrick for 18 months and cannot spend time with his daughter because he does not have a home. I refer back to the hierarchy of needs: emotional, social and educational needs cannot be met if you are struggling to meet the need of shelter. Homelessness support staff told me that they knew of people who had been in temporary accommodation for several years. Those cases are not exceptional. In April this year, 63% of households living in temporary accommodation had been there for more than six months, and 44% had been there for more than a year. That stretches the definition of "temporary". It is, of course, a stark expression of the housing crisis that we are experiencing. For many, there is very little hope of moving on any time soon. In Downpatrick, the average number of housing points needed to get into social housing is 170·4. You get 70 points for being homeless. There are currently 3,986 households on the social housing waiting list in Newry, Mourne and Down, 1,300 of which have been waiting for over five years. Only 360 allocations were made last year. Private rentals are often unaffordable for low-income households and often present other access hurdles as well. The Simon Community runs a deposit scheme and has plans to provide affordable rental housing through its creating homes scheme, but property is expensive in South Down. I will spend a little bit of time talking about the challenges that housing support staff face in providing support to people in need. The first priority of the Housing Executive's homelessness strategy for 2022-27 is to prioritise homelessness prevention. That is incredibly important, because it can prevent further harm. It also saves a lot of money. However, prevention is under immense pressure. Staff recruitment and retention is an enormous challenge for the sector. Trust relationships are key to effective support, but frequently changing agency staff makes that very difficult. That has a negative impact on good outcomes. Homelessness support is a very challenging and skilled job. It is demanding in emotional terms, too.

It takes a committed and passionate workforce to provide the service, but that is not often reflected in the pay or working conditions in the sector. In fact, I have heard from people working in the sector that some of them have made use of food banks and that many struggle to make ends meet. I quote from one of the conversations:

"We chat with each other in the office about where to get the cheapest noodles to tide us over until payday. It is a reality that many of us just won't be able to keep doing this indefinitely. We are acutely aware of poverty and know that people we serve experience things we probably will never have to, so we do not like to make a fuss, but we also have to pay the bills."

The sector needs to be professionalised. The staff working there are already professional to all intents and purposes, but working conditions are not. At the root of all that is funding in quantity, stability and structural terms. Quantity-wise, a lot of housing support is funded through the Supporting People programme grant, which has been frozen since 2007-08. The Minister for Communities has promised above-inflation increases to the Supporting People programme, which is brilliant, but it does not make up for the 15-year freeze. Stability-wise, the homelessness agencies that I spoke to were not sure whether that increase would be recurring. The homelessness service budget was also squeezed, and many services are now funded on a month-to-month basis. That uncertainty means that they can neither recruit people nor increase pay. The looming increase in minimum wage next year might mean that many of the organisations will become unviable, if funding is not increased accordingly. Structurally speaking, prevention services are funded out of the same pot as temporary accommodation, but only the latter is subject to a statutory duty. As the demand for temporary accommodation increases, as it has done fivefold since the COVID-19 pandemic, the squeeze on prevention tightens. We need to turn that around. Finally, I will briefly reflect on the character from whom the Simon Community takes its name. While his name is attributed to that particular organisation, the character referenced bears relevance to all those involved in the homelessness sector. Simon of Cyrene is the gentlemen who is referenced, and, if you know, you know. To give Members a bit of context, I will say that Simon stepped forward and undertook to share the burden of something that was almost impossible to bear. He had to bear it alone, and he did so without speaking and without fanfare. When he completed the task, he went back, unreferenced, into the background. That is very much what those in the homeless sector do with such grace. They deserve our utmost thanks and respect for doing so.

2,152 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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