Debate contribution: Homelessness: South Down
Debate contribution by Mrs Sinéad Ennis on .
- MLA
- Mrs Sinéad Ennis
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 22 October 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- Homelessness: South Down
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4608627
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
I sincerely thank my constituency colleague Andrew McMurray for securing this important Adjournment debate. Homelessness is not just a personal misfortune; it is a societal failure. In Ireland, we face a crisis of social and affordable housing, which is made worse by the rising cost of living. With over 88,000 people waiting for social housing, 75% of whom are in severe housing stress, it is clear that the current system is unsustainable. Families across the country are being pushed to the brink, and extortionate rent prices, coupled with a severe lack of available homes, force many into a state of insecurity. Our social housing stock is declining at an alarming and unsustainable rate. The Department for Communities must take urgent action to stop that. We need bold and immediate steps to ensure that new social and affordable homes are built, particularly in areas such as South Down. My colleagues will appreciate that 40% of the rural housing need in the North exists in South Down. We know that all too well, but it is a shocking statistic. While co-ownership has been a successful route to home ownership for many, it is severely underutilised in South Down. In 2023-24, the area saw the delivery of only 19 new co-ownerships homes, making it one of the lowest-performing areas. The Minister must do more to allow families to find a realistic path to sustainable and secure housing. For many of our constituents in South Down, the dream of living in the communities in which they grew up is slipping away. In villages such as Rostrevor and Hilltown and towns such as Warrenpoint and Kilkeel, the cost of housing has skyrocketed. That, along with the rise of Airbnbs and the shortage of rental property, locks young people and families out of their home towns. The very communities that shaped them are becoming financially inaccessible to them. We need immediate decisive action, and the Minister must recognise the urgency of the crisis and prioritise the publication of the housing supply strategy. That is a critical step towards building new and affordable homes that can secure the future of our communities. The housing crisis affects us all. If we are to ensure a fair, equal and prosperous future, we must tackle it head-on, and we must tackle it now.
390 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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