Debate contribution: Homelessness Awareness Week 2024

Debate contribution by Mr Mark Durkan on 2 December 2024.

MLA

Mr Mark Durkan

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

2 December 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Homelessness Awareness Week 2024

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4686546

Read the official Assembly record

Text

While many of us excitedly prepare for the Christmas countdown, others face the harsh reality of keeping, or even getting, a roof over their heads. Recently, a mother reached out to my office after losing her private rented accommodation. Amid the chaos of packing up the furniture, searching for a new place to stay and wondering how she would get her children to school if they were relocated across the city or beyond, she remarked that her son's biggest worry was how Santa would find them this year. We have heard today that there are over 5,000 children in temporary accommodation. In many families, the children will have nowhere to hang a stocking, and there will be no facilities to cook a festive dinner and no table for them to gather around together. Believe it or not, those families are lucky compared to some others. The plight of many more families mirrors a modern-day Christmas parable. Many are fleeing persecution and the consequences of poverty, only to be met with this message: there is no room at the inn, the hotel or the B&B. How did we get here? That is not a biblical mystery, but the result of systemic and sustained cuts to homelessness prevention services, combined with the largest reduction to the social housing development programme seen in a generation. How can the Executive rationalise such devastating decisions when housing waiting lists have soared to a record high? The Programme for Government commits to making homelessness "brief, rare and non-recurrent". Currently, the only thing that is brief, rare and non-recurrent is homelessness prevention funding and political will to tackle the slow-motion disintegration of community life as we know it. A whole generation of families is unable to put down roots, make neighbourly connections or form the building blocks of a safe and thriving community. Spend on temporary accommodation has increased tenfold since 2018. That is worth remembering the next time that financial constraints are used as an excuse for the Executive's lack of creativity. I am glad to hear that some more creative measures have emerged in recent times, and I look forward to working with the Executive on the delivery of those. In July, the Housing Executive highlighted the devastating impact that cuts to homelessness prevention would have on wrap-around services and the vulnerable individuals who depend on them. I, like others, commend the work of those organisations and individuals, but they need so much more support to change lives and, in many instances, to save lives. In October, the Assembly backed calls from the Opposition to declare a housing emergency. Less than a month later, the Finance Minister made a welcome allocation of £24 million for new social homes. She informed the Assembly that that would allow the Executive to deliver up to 1,400 social homes. I have since learned, through the Communities Minister's responses to questions for written answer, that DFC has neither set that target nor engaged with the Housing Executive on that figure. Sadly, it would seem that Ministers are in the habit of plucking figures out of thin air and presenting numbers without proper analysis, as was the case with the draft housing supply strategy, which promised to deliver 100,000 homes in 15 years. Two years on, it is clear that that strategy is undeliverable. I understand that housing is not the sole responsibility of one Department and that addressing the crisis requires a whole-system approach. That includes ensuring access to adequate health services, preventing homelessness and resolving water infrastructure challenges to expedite the delivery of homes already in the pipeline. Ultimately, tackling the housing emergency hinges on the political will of the Executive. It is a sobering reflection that the most sought-after children's gift this Christmas will be a place to call home. For many children, the season will have lost its magic and their parents will have lost hope. I remind Members that housing was core to the fight for civil rights in the North, representing not just shelter but equality, dignity and opportunity. Housing was once the foundation for change. Let us, today, remind ourselves why we became public representatives: to improve the place that we call home and to ensure that people have a place to call home.

710 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

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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