Debate contribution: Homelessness Awareness Week 2024
Debate contribution by Mr Andy Allen MBE on .
- MLA
- Mr Andy Allen MBE
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 2 December 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Homelessness Awareness Week 2024
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4686542
Read the official Assembly record
Text
As has been mentioned, Homelessness Awareness Week is a week of social and educational events that aim to raise awareness of the reality of homelessness in Northern Ireland. Homeless Connect facilitates Homelessness Awareness Week on behalf of the sector. Held annually, it seeks to challenge the stigma around homelessness and highlight the vital work of the homelessness sector in Northern Ireland. I echo the comments of tribute that have been made to the many thousands who work day and night in the housing and homelessness sector. Their work, often delivered against a backdrop of immense pressure, truly makes a difference. It is undeniable that Northern Ireland faces unprecedented challenges when it comes to homelessness. Those challenges are exacerbated by the undersupply of housing, an increased need over many years and pressures on temporary accommodation, as mentioned by others, that have pushed the ladder to breaking point. At least 58,241 people are legally homeless: that is one in every 33 people in Northern Ireland. As I have highlighted in other debates in the House, the increased housing need and the pressures on temporary accommodation are resulting in individuals and families being moved many miles from their communities, support networks, work and schools. Many of those people rely on the goodwill of others to provide a roof over their heads where temporary accommodation cannot be found or is impractical, due to its being too far away from school and work, to mention but a few. We have families and individuals living out of suitcases or black bin bags. Friendships and families are being pushed to breaking point. Do the official figures, as has been highlighted, truly account for the scale of our housing challenges? Do they account for those who are unknown to us — the hidden homeless? According to recent Simon Community research, there are up to an additional 25,000 people outside the system who are not getting the support that they so desperately need. Over the past six months, over 8,000 households presented as homeless to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. That equates to 45 homeless presentations every day. That is 45 individuals and families, from young people to pensioners, who have nowhere to go, and it results in them being put into temporary accommodation. Over the past five years, spend on temporary accommodation in Northern Ireland has increased by 495%, as we have heard from other Members, to £340·5 million. Nearly a third of households on the waiting list — 29% — have been waiting for over five years for quality, affordable housing of their own. A home is more than a roof over someone's head. Our homes are the foundations for our lives. Having somewhere safe and secure that we can call "home" is essential in supporting our health and well-being. People are getting stuck in a cycle of homelessness, due to fewer and fewer affordable housing options. It is undeniable that there have been positive steps in responding to homelessness since the Executive returned in 2024 — Mr Kingston highlighted some of those steps — but we need resources for the social housing build and a properly funded homelessness strategy if we are to turn the curve. The brutal reality for the many thousands who are looking to us for answers is that those developments, whilst welcomed, as highlighted, do not begin to scratch the surface for those who need to be supported.
566 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 (0.92).
- 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 | 0.92 | 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 | 0.79 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.16 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.03 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.02 |
| 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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