Member's statement: Human Rights Day: Housing
Member's statement by Mrs Ciara Ferguson on .
- MLA
- Mrs Ciara Ferguson
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 10 December 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Human Rights Day: Housing
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4715299
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Housing is a human right and forms part of the right to an adequate standard of living guaranteed by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Under international law, to be adequately housed means having real security of tenure. On Human Rights Day, it is timely to remind us all of our ongoing collective responsibility to tackle poverty and existing housing inequalities across our society, ensuring that no one is left behind. Key elements that are considered when assessing the right to adequate housing include security of tenure; affordability; habitability, accessibility; the availability of services; location, including access to support; and cultural adequacy. Delivering housing across all tenures is fundamental, but we must also work to prevent evictions and tackle any discriminatory patterns of social exclusion that prevent people from accessing suitable housing. Whilst the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights' General Comment No 7 of 1997 is approaching three decades of existence, it is to be commended for its clear and unequivocal commentary on evictions:
"Evictions should not result in individuals being rendered homeless or"
being left
"vulnerable to the violation of other human rights."
With almost 48,000 households on the social housing waiting list at present, we have a duty to once again consider housing as our collective duty, particularly in the context of the fulfilment of human rights, and to reconsider how we will ensure that resources are pooled across the Executive and Assembly to progressively realise that right to the maximum ability of our available resources. I welcome the publication of the housing supply strategy by the Minister yesterday, but I also ask the Minister to confirm when we can expect the regulations. The regulations will bring forward the work of our predecessors to deliver much longer notice-to-quit periods for those living in the private rented sector. Equally, I again urge the Minister to reconsider his refusal to legislate to end the use of no-fault evictions. While I appreciate some of the challenges that he has raised on the basis of the Scottish case, for example, those challenges are not insurmountable and, arguably, are not an exceptional justification for a lack of legislation in the area. I suggest further engaging on that with the likes of Renters' Voice and Housing Rights, which have already been considering potential proposals for the development of very limited acceptable grounds for exceptions.
396 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 (0.95).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.99).
- 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 | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.95 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.99 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.01 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.83 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.09 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.03 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.02 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:43 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.