Debate contribution: Homelessness Awareness Week 2024

Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on 2 December 2024.

MLA

Mr Timothy Gaston

Party at the time

Traditional Unionist Voice

Date

2 December 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Homelessness Awareness Week 2024

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4686548

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The spectre of homelessness is currently unlikely to threaten anyone in the Chamber, but, as public representatives and legislators, it should greatly concern us all. I say that because, like all Members, I received a briefing paper from the Simon Community that highlights the fact that 58,241 people are currently legally homeless in Northern Ireland. In the past decade, the number of homeless people here has grown by more than 135%. As shocking as they are, even those figures are believed to be an underestimate. The ballooning of spend on temporary housing accommodation, which has amounted to some £34·5 million over the past five years, is a false economy. We need to get away from relying on temporary accommodation and instead invest in building more social housing, through either the Housing Executive or the housing associations, to meet the growing demand. There are many people who look at the lack of housing provision and at the problems that are associated with connecting new builds to an at-capacity sewage infrastructure and rightly question this Government's priorities. One complaint that I hear regularly from those who are listed as being homeless is that many people perceive the gold standard to be the treatment that asylum seekers in Northern Ireland receive. Just last week, I received a response from the Executive Office telling me that there are 301 asylum seekers housed in hotels in Northern Ireland.

I thank the Member for his input. I have not been to one of the hotels, but I have been in many houses that are being used as emergency accommodation for asylum seekers. I cannot see that accommodation being any worse, Gerry, than a lot of the emergency accommodation that is currently being offered to my constituents, and, I am sure, to your constituents as well. A number of weeks ago, the Executive Office Committee received a briefing on the monitoring round, and we were advised of a pressure of £6·4 million on service delivery to refugees and asylum seekers. That money does not come from our block grant, but it does come from the Home Office, which, of course, is funded by every taxpayer in Northern Ireland. Furthermore, as was clarified in a response to my questions, the figure of £6·4 million is only the money that is going to the Executive Office for pressures related to refugees and asylum seekers and does not include funding for other Departments, such as Health and Education. That is something that I will pursue by way of questions for written answer. Before we take on the problems of the world, we need to sort out our home-grown ones. Then, of course, we have the very questionable wastage by Departments, such as the Department for Communities, as well as lobby groups and organisations that pursue political agendas rather than doing anything to address the Department's core functions, such as dealing with homelessness. In that regard, I think particularly of the funding that the Department for Communities funnels into the Rainbow Project. It is an organisation that, as a search of the Department's website shows, has been included on a reference group and an expert panel established by the Department in the past, as well as being in receipt of departmental funding. In his response to the debate, I would like the Minister for Communities to address whether he will review that relationship in light of the content of the Rainbow Project website, which advises people to use Post-it notes to snort powdered drugs. My goodness. The Rainbow Project website goes on to advise readers that people can still consent to sex if they are a bit tipsy or a bit stoned. Indeed, it says that that is fine. Is that the sort of organisation that should be in receipt of public money?

I was just coming back to it, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I was asking whether that is the sort of organisation that should be in receipt of public money ahead of ones that provide vital core functions to tackle homelessness. I certainly think not. It is all well and good to say fine words about how we will address the housing situation, but let us not diminish and dismiss those who would question the spend on people who entered the UK illegally when we cannot meet the needs of folk who are already here. Let us address the wastage on questionable lobby groups and instead spend the money where it is really needed. All Ministers need to take a step back and examine what their Departments are currently spending money on. To truly tackle homelessness, we need to eliminate wastage and prioritise everyday essentials, such as sewerage infrastructure, in order to allow us to build new, efficient and fit-for-purpose social homes. We will tackle the problem only by building new homes for those who are already classed as homeless and those who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in that position in the weeks and months ahead. Instead of raising awareness of homelessness, the Executive need to tackle homelessness.

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

Assessment

Qualifying Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers

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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