Debate contribution: Housebuilding on Public Land

Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on 31 March 2025.

MLA

Mr Colin McGrath

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

31 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Housebuilding on Public Land

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4871653

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thanks very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. Having had conversations with members of the press, I know that they might think that that bunker is used for Executive meetings, because they say that there is a lack of information and press conferences after Executive meetings and they are in the dark. Maybe the Executive would like to see the press put in the bunker. I am glad that we are coming up with possible uses for it, because it is not doing much for anybody if it lies empty. There can be no more delay, inaction or excuses. Our people demand progress on social and affordable housing, and they rightly demand that that progress be made now. It is clear that the housing crisis that we face has long since reached a critical point. With waiting lists for social housing ballooning to over 47,000, the situation is nothing short of a crisis, and, if urgent action is not taken, it will be nothing short of a scandal. The number of individuals in temporary accommodation — Members referenced them during the debate — has risen by an alarming 132% over the past five years. As Members have said, our constituency offices are inundated with people who are in dire situations. We have distraught mothers, highly stressed and anxious people who are living in poverty and burnt-out families, all of whom are at their wits' end. They are desperate in their pursuit of a place to live, and, unfortunately, they get no assistance with that. In the private sector, rents are soaring. It now regularly costs more than £1,000 a month in many areas. People across the North are losing hope and faith in the ability of the Executive to deliver.

Through their inaction, the Executive have fed a culture of cynicism that is now embedded in our society. I urge anybody to walk down any street in any town and say, "Is the housing crisis being dealt with by our Executive?". The majority of people will laugh, such is the cynicism. For too many young people, homeownership has become an unrealistic aspiration, because, as wages fail to keep pace with rising house prices, the disparity between income and housing costs is creating an insurmountable barrier for the next generation. As it stands, we are at risk of seeing the social contract being broken, and we cannot stand by and let that become the new normal. The motion recognises the critical role that social and affordable housing plays in reducing housing need, supporting communities and strengthening our economy and presents a pragmatic course of action to resolve our challenges. We must not forget that the Department for Communities has committed to delivering at least 33,000 social homes under the housing supply strategy. That commitment is commendable, but we are talking about this Executive, so it is just a commitment. When does the commitment become a reality? We must see land being made available if we are to realise those targets. That is why the SDLP is proposing something transformative. That is why we recognise the untapped potential of public land — land in public ownership that is sitting unused or underutilised. Public land could be, as we have said, the key to unlocking the housing that we need. Our figures show that, by using just 10% to 20% of the public estate, we could build between 68,000 and 136,000 new homes. That is not a far-off dream; it is a very real possibility if we take action now. The need for a more strategic approach to land use cannot be overstated. The public land available for housing development presents an opportunity that should not be overlooked. By using public land, we can build homes faster. without the financial burden of expensive land acquisition, which typically accounts for around 30% of the cost of building a social home. Without the cost of purchasing land, money could be pumped back into building homes. By maximising the use of public land, we can free up hundreds of millions of pounds for reinvestment in further housing developments. To make things happen —.

It would be dedicated to the task — it would be completely dedicated to it and nothing else. If we continue to simply do things in the way that we have done them before, and if we shuffle around a few civil servants and say, "If you lift yourself from this desk and go over to that desk, everything will be solved", I have no faith that we will get anything done. Having a dedicated agency, with its own aims, objectives and goals, which uses the money that would otherwise be spent in other ways, will make sure that it achieves that. The problem is that tinkering around the edges will not fix the problems that we have. If we set up a dedicated unit whose specific job as an agency is to do that, it would be sorted out. I remind the Minister that his party's manifesto said that it would like to see a UK-wide agency. Let us be trailblazers. Let us set our sights higher. If we begin it here, others might be able to join in. Your party's manifesto suggested that we should have such an agency, rather than simply having people do a different job somewhere else.

Yes.

I wonder which sectors will be brought in to work alongside that agency. I wonder which experts will be brought in to the Department to sit at desks alongside those people to be able to do the job. I would guess none, because if it is a Civil Service-led project, it will be filled with civil servants pushing papers around and trying to do Civil Service things. It we were to have an agency that could reach out and bring in construction experts and experts from outside the field to work alongside its staff, we might get more done. I think that we are going to fundamentally disagree on this. You have a unit that you say is going to solve all the issues with social housing, and it is starting tomorrow. If we are not supported today, and that is what we get tomorrow, we will be watching, and we will see how successful it is. I just fear that, because we are doing exactly what we have done with other issues through the Civil Service, we may get the same outcome, and that is where we are at the minute, with very little happening with housing. That is why we are calling for the creation of a public land agency, a body that would be responsible for identifying the land, working across Departments and partnering with housing associations. I do not know how many times I have spoken to housing associations that told me that the biggest thing that they cannot get is land. Those are housing associations that are there today. They can tap in and out of the Civil Service and the Department to try to get work done, and we go nowhere, yet we have huge amounts of land that could be used. That is why we suggest a separate agency to deal with that. It is obvious that it is not going to get the support of the Department. I suppose there was a sense that, if it was going to happen, it should be part of another Department, and that, again, really just gets to the heart of what we do. One Minister says, "Nah, we don't want anything to do with it. Pass it over to another Minister". Then you get another Minister saying, "It's nothing to do with my Department. Could somebody else not deal with it?", and it is on that merry-go-round that we go round and round, but there is never any action. We are proposing a land agency because a separate, dedicated agency in its own right with its own staff, to reach out and bring in the sector and work with it, would be better than another down-the-corridor door where the nameplate is changed. That is why we proposed the motion.

1,352 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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