Debate contribution: Social and Affordable Housing: East Belfast

Debate contribution by Miss Deirdre Hargey on 3 June 2025.

MLA

Miss Deirdre Hargey

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

3 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Social and Affordable Housing: East Belfast

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4986161

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank Joanne for securing this important debate on housing, particularly in East Belfast. Sinn Féin believes that housing is a human right. Everyone in our society, no matter their background or where they come from, should have access to safe, secure and affordable housing. We know the role that housing plays in improving outcomes for people, but it is also a fundamental part of their health and well-being. We are in a housing crisis — there is no doubt about that — and East Belfast is not immune to that fact. That area also faces pressures across all housing tenures, as we have heard today, with growing waiting lists in the social housing sector but also increased pressures because of rent increases in the private rented sector. We know that the lack of housing supply creates those real pressures in our housing system overall and plays its part in pushing up rents. There are other issues — Airbnbs and so on — that we need to look at more systematically when it comes to the challenges, particularly for inner-city communities. Of course, we also see, particularly since COVID, increases in waiting lists across the board and in the number of people presenting with a multitude of additional challenges for which they need support. That is why we need the housing supply strategy and why it is so critical to address the fundamental challenges that we face. We need to ensure that it is done in a coordinated and cross-departmental way. Importantly, we need to co-design the solutions with the housing sector, communities and those who find themselves on the waiting list or the transfer list. Alongside that, we need to address the right-to-buy scheme, which has undoubtedly depleted our housing stock across the North since it was introduced in the late 1980s. We need to ensure that we consult on that. Again, I call on the Minister to look at that urgently. That practice has ceased in other social housing providers and exists only in the Housing Executive. There is already that inequality, and, without replacing that stock, we wonder why we find ourselves in a housing crisis. That area needs to be looked at urgently. We also need to ensure that land is available and, in particular, that public land is prioritised for public housing. We have seen examples of that in Belfast, particularly with Belfast City Council working with the Department for Communities and the Housing Executive on a strategic site assessment. They have looked at a number of pieces of land, particularly surface car parks that were transferred under local government reform in 2014. That has led to a housing-led regeneration programme in the city, and that will bring not just major investment in housing but significant increases in housing options in the city. Importantly, we will start to rebuild an inner-city core. We also need to ensure that the strategies align with public realm works and that there is the ability to re-stitch our neighbourhoods into the city centre and into one another. We know that, during the last major investment in public housing, in the 1960s and 1970s, what was done pertained to the conflict. A containment strategy was devised that segregated and cut communities off not only from one another but from the city centre. We need to make sure that any major housebuilding programme undoes some of that negative segregation of our neighbourhoods. Good work will come from aligning the housing supply strategy with local development plans to ensure that the approach that has been taken in Belfast can be replicated across other council areas and co-designed to meet the needs of those areas and localities. We particularly have to recognise the differences in urban and rural challenges. We have to ensure that we are look at systemic issues at a local level and, importantly, that we make housing a priority in all the work that we do.

The urgent revitalisation of the Housing Executive is a priority. We need to see the Housing Executive building homes again and having the ability to borrow money on the strength of its assets, similar to what councils are already doing. That could present a huge opportunity for the Housing Executive, whereby it could reinvest in its existing stock to bring it up to modern standards and start building homes again. That is also important in the context of retrofitting. We know the challenges posed by climate, the cost of living and fuel poverty. A retrofitting programme would have a huge impact, particularly given the age profile of some of the housing stock in areas such as East Belfast. We need better management of the existing stock, particularly in the social housing sector, and we need to make sure that we maximise not just the application system but the transfer system. If there are new housing developments, we can maximise the number of people whom we move off the list if we maximise transfer applications. This is an important discussion. There has been good work in East Belfast, such as that on the Park Avenue and CS Lewis Square developments. Andy touched on the East Belfast Mission, which is doing excellent work that dovetails with the Department's priority of building community wealth in how the community can also own and manage such assets, and, importantly, respond to community need. Addressing the housing crisis requires a systemic approach. We need a ramping up of the housing supply strategy and a revitalisation of the Housing Executive to ensure that we see direct action. We need to see the action that Belfast City Council is taking with the Department and the Housing Executive replicated by all councils.

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

Assessment

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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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