Debate contribution: Homelessness Awareness Week 2024
Debate contribution by Mr Brian Kingston on .
- MLA
- Mr Brian Kingston
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 2 December 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Homelessness Awareness Week 2024
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4686536
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I confirm the DUP's support for this cross-party motion highlighting Homelessness Awareness Week. Homelessness is a complex issue caused by factors relating to a person's personal circumstances and by wider factors beyond their control. The reality of homelessness covers a wide range of circumstances and includes those staying in temporary and emergency statutory and voluntary sector accommodation while they are on the social housing waiting list; those staying in temporary private arrangements with family members and friends, who often sleep on other people's sofas and have to move around and, in some cases, sleep in their cars; those whose private rental tenancy is being ended; and, most starkly, those sleeping rough on our streets, who, in many cases, have many personal challenges around mental health, addiction and previous life experience. The challenge is clear. The Housing Executive's waiting list for social housing in Northern Ireland stands at over 47,000 households. That is a priority for the Northern Ireland Executive and for the DUP. Housing has been secured as one of the nine priorities in the Executive's draft Programme for Government. We must provide more social, affordable and sustainable housing. However, addressing homelessness is not just about increasing housing supply but about making sure that those who have associated challenges receive the right intervention at the appropriate time. Addressing homelessness requires work across Departments, certainly for Communities and Infrastructure but also for Health and Justice in recognition of the need for support services for vulnerable people who have associated challenges such as mental health problems, drug and alcohol dependency and institutional experiences in the care or justice systems. This morning, I was pleased to attend an event at Belfast City Hall highlighting the Complex Lives project, which addresses the needs of rough sleepers and homeless people who face complex issues in Belfast. It is a joined-up, multi-agency approach, funded by the Housing Executive, the Public Health Agency (PHA), Belfast City Council and the policing and community safety partnership (PCSP). Through the project, statutory and voluntary agencies involved in housing, health, criminal justice and employment and skills work closely to support vulnerable individuals and seek to break negative cycles of behaviour. I was struck by the words of a Housing Executive officer who said that, after working with homeless people for 15 years, she had felt burned out. However, the commencement of the Complex Lives project three years ago had rejuvenated her work, and she saw the real difference that the project was making to individuals, with over 150 supported so far. I encourage other councils to study that model. Of course, we need to increase housing supply across all areas. That includes speeding up the planning system and ensuring that the necessary infrastructure — in particular, waste water infrastructure — is in place. The reality is that the supply of new social and private housing is not keeping up with demand. The Chartered Institute of Housing has advised that the number of new houses built here in 2023-24 was the lowest in a decade. The most recent house price index shows that average house prices in Northern Ireland have increased by 5·7% over the past year. That is impacting on the affordability of mortgages and deposits, particularly for first-time buyers. The DUP has taken action over recent years to improve housing options. We have been supportive of the co-ownership scheme, and our Minister, Gordon Lyons, has increased the upper value limit for qualifying properties in order to help more people into homeownership through co-ownership. We have helped working families by launching the intermediate rent product, where a long-term, low-interest loan is offered to an operator to develop a supply of affordable homes for rent at a 20% discount to the market value. Among all the competing demands on the departmental budget, Gordon Lyons provided a 6·4% increase in funding for the Supporting People programme in this financial year. That funding supports a range of statutory and voluntary support services for vulnerable and homeless people. We commend the motion to the House.
670 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 (0.91).
- 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 | 0.91 | 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 | 0.46 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.41 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.12 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:36 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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