Debate contribution: Social and Affordable Housing: East Belfast

Debate contribution by Mr Peter McReynolds on 3 June 2025.

MLA

Mr Peter McReynolds

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

3 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Social and Affordable Housing: East Belfast

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4986150

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I rise to speak on the importance of social and affordable housing in East Belfast. I thank Ms Bunting for securing the debate, the Communities Minister for being here to listen to us, and the Housing Executive and the many housing associations that operate in East Belfast for providing the basic human right to a safe and comfortable home. Each week, I sit down with staff in my constituency office to discuss themes and emerging issues. Without a shadow of a doubt, housing and housing stress is the number-one recurring issue that they deal with daily. I pay tribute to my staff for the work that they do for me each week. In East Belfast, 3,700 people are currently on the social housing waiting list, yet, in 2024, only 655 people were allocated a social home. The demand is nearly six times the availability. That means individuals, families and children living in uncertainty and insecurity. Taking that to the extreme, I took part in a sponsored sleep-out last year with MACS NI, about which I have spoken before in the Chamber. I obtained a glimpse of the reality of homelessness in inner East Belfast, located at Banana Block, just down the road from here. I experienced the judgement and stigma that come with homelessness and the wider, cumulative effect that not having a good night's sleep has on you the next morning. I will turn to the wider impact that the lack of housing and social housing has on our constituents. My office regularly hears about tenants being served notices to quit by their landlord. They cannot afford to rent elsewhere on the private market because of the cost. The loss of a home from the private rented market is one of the most-cited reasons for people experiencing hidden homelessness, when individuals and families are forced to sofa-surf and may not be known to the Housing Executive. Additionally, high rents are leaving private rented tenants vulnerable to homelessness, with around one in eight private renters presenting as homeless to the Housing Executive since 2018 citing problems in affording their rent. We must do more to secure tenancies in rented accommodation. I appreciate that that is not immediately within the gift of the Communities Minister, but I would appreciate a response to the point and an update on the work that he is undertaking within his Department. I also regularly hear of adult children who have to live with their parents, often with children of their own, as there is nowhere safe for them to go because hostels and emergency accommodations are not suitable for parents or young children. I have dealt with cases where the stress of having so many people crammed into one household has an immediate impact on everyone living there and can lead to fractured family dynamics. For example, in a recent case that arrived in my office, there had been violent interactions between family members because the living situation caused so much tension within that confined space. I also have several homelessness cases for single males, as they score very low on points eligibility, and I know personally of friends over the years who have experienced that. It is a chronic and recurring theme, and updates from the Minister on that would also be appreciated. When it comes to new builds to address housing stress, as Ms Bunting mentioned earlier, only 46 social housing units were completed in East Belfast during the last financial year, whilst 239 units are under construction and 293 units are due to start construction. We are still trying to catch our tail with the level of demand in East Belfast, and that has led to creative approaches being taken by the East Belfast Mission and Hosford Community Homes. I was delighted to hear updates on their work last Friday alongside Ms Bunting, the High Sheriff of Belfast, Fiona McAteer, and Councillor Sammy Douglas. The situation has worsened since we last had an East Belfast Adjournment debate in the Chamber, on the stalled waste water project, Living with Water in Belfast, and the knock-on effect that it will have on the construction of current and future properties across all types of housing. A lack of new builds has an immediate impact on people who are experiencing housing stress but also elevates the need for other types of housing. I would be grateful to hear from the Minister, in his response, what recent conversations have taken place with the Infrastructure Minister on that point and the impact that the lack of support from Northern Ireland Water is having on housing stress across East Belfast and wider Northern Ireland. Housing is fundamental, deeply personal for everyone and a highly emotive issue. It is so important that everyone has access to safe and adequate housing, whether that is via a social home or affordable housing, to make homeownership more achievable for individuals and families who want to take that next step. I thank the Member again for having secured the Adjournment debate today.

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

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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