Debate contribution: Homelessness: South Down

Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on 22 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Gordon Lyons

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

22 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Homelessness: South Down

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4608647

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the Member who secured the debate and congratulate him on doing so. I welcome the opportunity to respond. I also congratulate him on his Bruce Springsteen quote — I do not think that anybody had that on their bingo card today — and I look forward to more quotes from The Boss in future. I recognise many of the issues and concerns that the Member and others have raised on homelessness and housing in South Down. As I have stated in the past, in reality, many of the issues are seen throughout the country. They include growing homelessness pressures and use of temporary accommodation, the demand for social housing and increasing waiting lists, the availability and cost of private rented homes and the difficulty of delivering the necessary infrastructure to provide new homes. Those concerns are not faced in just one constituency. Across Northern Ireland, there is need and demand for high-quality, affordable and sustainable homes that simply is not being met. Housing in all places is a priority for me, and it must be seen as a priority for the Executive. I have said numerous times in the Chamber that we need a whole-system approach to address the issues that impact on supply. That means that the challenges cannot be addressed by one Department alone but will require an Executive commitment and funding to match. It is welcome that the Executive made provision of more social, affordable and sustainable housing a key priority of the new draft Programme for Government (PFG), but the Executive must now demonstrate that they are committed to that priority. The whole-system approach is fundamental to the draft housing supply strategy that I am finalising and that I will bring to the Executive in the coming weeks. The strategy will provide a long-term framework to help to bring about the system changes that we need and to facilitate the PFG priority. One of the five key objectives of the housing supply strategy will be the prevention of homelessness and development of housing solutions for those most in need. I want to improve the response to homelessness. The sector is under significant strain as a result of increases in the need for temporary accommodation and demand for social homes, the growth of waiting lists and the issue of the availability and cost of private rented homes. I want to make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurrent and to make the strategic shift to prevention, but we have an immediate issue with the use of temporary accommodation. That costs money that is not being spent on homelessness prevention or supported housing schemes, and staying in insecure, temporary accommodation is not good enough for families. I want to prioritise prevention, to create as much capacity as we can in homelessness services and to make a long-term commitment to developing housing-led and housing-first provision. It will take time to achieve those ambitions, however, and our short-term focus must continue to be on supporting those who are in crisis. Ultimately, we need more social homes. In the past three years, my Department has invested over £510 million in the social housing development programme (SHDP). That investment recognises the importance of infrastructure. Like water and sewerage connections, social housing is a key part of our infrastructure and a vital asset for us and generations to come. In the year before last, we started 1,950 social homes. In the previous financial year, across Northern Ireland, over 1,500 were started. This year, I would like to have started 2,000, but my Department did not have and was not given the money for that. I know that no Minister is happy with the budget that they received, but I am particularly disappointed because starting 600 social homes this year is not where we need to be. I will continue to bid for further funding to support the SHDP and to help to deliver much-needed additional new social homes. My next priority is to take action to protect the Housing Executive so that it can continue to provide decent homes for our households and families. I am actively pressing for a solution that will enable the Housing Executive to increase routine and planned investment to deal with maintenance backlogs and fund a programme of retrofit to improve energy efficiency in homes. To do that, we need the Housing Executive to be able to borrow in order to allow the investment that is needed. I am pushing that almost daily in order to ensure that we achieve that change in how budgeting is treated.

My officials and I are in the process of investigating how we can do that without reclassification or significant restructuring.

I will also push forward with work to reform the private rented sector in order to improve the security and quality of tenure for the individuals and families who use it. I want to mention the Supporting People scheme, because high-quality, effective housing support can make a real difference in people's lives and enable them to live more independently in the community. I am proud of the Supporting People programme, which has been in place for over 20 years, and all that it continues to achieve in offering vulnerable people the opportunity to improve their quality of life. It is vital that the programme is funded to support young people, those with mental health issues or physical or learning disabilities and older people, so that they can thrive in their homes. I will turn to some of the comments. I will not address them all. There was a common theme throughout the debate, and I will pick up on something that a number of Members said. Cathy Mason said that I needed to focus on fixing housing, and Sinéad Ennis said that immediate action needed to be taken. Andy Allen said that the time for talking is over and we need action, and Colin McGrath asked what we are doing to get on with it. I am pleased to say that we are making progress on the issue. Mr McGrath said that we do not need a strategy or a plan. I will check Hansard, but he said that the last thing we need is another plan. I think that we do need a plan, and we need to be in a place where we bring all the parties together, because it will take a whole-system approach, and that will be brought forward. That does not mean that action has not already been taken; in fact, in the few months that I have been in office, action has been taken on issues that have been left for far too long. I have already brought forward—.

Yes.

If the Member had listened to me earlier, he would have heard those figures. He will understand the budgetary constraints that I am under.

Yes, 600. He will understand the budgetary constraints that I am under, but, even with the budgetary constraints that I face, I have taken action in other areas. I am using the other levers at my disposal to make a difference on the issue. Intermediate rent was not done before in Northern Ireland and is now being progressed. We are using financial transactions capital to help with move-on accommodation. I increased the property value limit for co-ownership. I have given additional funding to the Supporting People programme. I am securing additional funding for the social housing development programme. For the first time ever, I have been able to secure a commitment in the Programme for Government that housing will be a priority for the Executive, and I am bringing forward a housing supply strategy that recognises that it is not an issue for just one Department. Other Members have rightly indicated the issues around planning. I have stood up for a Sinn Féin Minister in the Executive because I believe that we need the investment in waste water infrastructure in order to deal with some of the housing issues that we face. That is why it is a whole-system approach. That is why we need a plan. Those actions are being taken with the limited levers that are available. With the budgetary constraints, action is still being taken. Why am I taking those actions? It is because I recognise and understand the importance of housing. If you give somebody a good home, it helps their educational and health outcomes, and it helps with the pressures on nearly every other Department. Safe, secure and warm homes are one of the most important things that we can do, and I am committed to doing that.

I will give way briefly to the Member.

Absolutely. The issue was helpfully raised at the British-Irish Council, and I talked to colleagues from other parts of the UK, Ireland and the other islands about some of the actions that have been taken. Those have been useful and fruitful conversations, and it is important that we learn about what is happening in other jurisdictions, such as how to better use the private sector and make the most efficient use of the homes that we have. There are also some ideas about what we can do with empty homes. Another point that the Member raised that is worth mentioning relates to the demand and supply issue. That goes to the heart of what it is.

We need to make sure that we have more homes. Lastly, Diane Forsythe was absolutely right to mention rural areas, which will be taken account of in the housing supply strategy. I recognise how important the issue is. We will do everything that we can to make sure that we fix the problem and that everybody in Northern Ireland has a home.

1,623 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:28 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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