Member's statement: Housing Executive: Tenancy Succession Policy
Member's statement by Mr Gerry Carroll on .
- MLA
- Mr Gerry Carroll
- Party at the time
- People Before Profit Alliance
- Date
- 14 January 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Housing Executive: Tenancy Succession Policy
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4736194
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I am raising the issue of tenancy succession for Housing Executive tenants. In recent days, I have been contacted at my office by multiple West Belfast residents who are being evicted after suffering a family bereavement. That is completely unfair and counterproductive. The Housing Executive has been dragging its tenants through court to try to claw back homes under its succession policy. It is important that social housing use is maintained and protected and that an avenue for people to have somewhere to live is kept open for all sorts of obvious reasons, not least because people are being ripped off by the cost of private rent in Belfast, which has reached over £1,000 per month. The Housing Executive should be preventing people from being made homeless rather than adding to homelessness figures by turfing people out of their homes. It defies belief that it should happen to anyone in any constituency, but someone in my constituency with a visual impairment is being evicted from a home that was adapted to suit her needs. Another person in the Beechmount/Clonard area is being kicked out of a Housing Executive home despite there being at least 200 empty homes in that area. The current succession policy, introduced in 2022 by the then Communities Minister, Deirdre Hargey, does not work. It is unfair, and it disproportionately affects children, women, people with disabilities and those from a Catholic background. It causes havoc in communities and is tearing up the social fabric of communities and the connections that people have made over years and generations. This reasonable question could be asked: how many people are impacted by that policy? The Minister has told us that he does not have the figures. I seriously doubt that. The Assembly declared a housing emergency a matter of months ago. This issue is part of the housing emergency. I support the call of the Community Action Tenants Union (CATU), Participation and the Practice of Rights (PPR), An Dream Dearg and many other organisations in calling for an end to evictions, an end to the eviction of Housing Executive tenants and a review of the current outdated policy. I will put that call directly to the Housing Executive in a matter of days.
373 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: 0.20 (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 (0.77).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- 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 | 0.11 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.03 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.04 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.10 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.92 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.20 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.77 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.06 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.04 |
| Adopts it | 0.13 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.59 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.25 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.07 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.05 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.03 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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