Debate contribution: Housing and the Programme for Government

Debate contribution by Mr Mark Durkan on 17 June 2025.

MLA

Mr Mark Durkan

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

17 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Housing and the Programme for Government

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5013555

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle.

The SDLP understands the fundamental power of a home to shape people's lives. Housing is a basic necessity — a tangible, life-shaping foundation on which families and communities are built. Let us not forget that the very foundations of our political system were born out of the housing rights movement, and it is why many of us stand here today. The failure to confront this growing crisis has had devastating consequences. That failure is a lived reality here for tens of thousands of people today. Those people include the single mother who has to traverse three flights of stairs twice a day, toddler in tow, with a pram in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other; a new mother in emergency accommodation who is not allowed visitors, not even her mum to help her with night feeds; the man bearing the scars of conflict, who has been given hostel accommodation that is two hours away from his support network, battling the haunting pull of relapse; or the pensioner who cannot climb the stairs to reach the toilet or their bed, waiting years for a new home. That is what social housing looks like in 2025, and, every day, it is getting worse. We were told that the Programme for Government would be ambitious. We were actually told that it is ambitious, promising nearly 6,000 social homes by 2027. However, this year, we will struggle to build barely 1,000 — half the target that the Executive set. Ministers laud that and the housing supply strategy as some sort of victory when, in Derry alone, over 6,000 people are waiting for a home. That is not ambition; it is abdication. Instead of addressing those failures, last week, the DUP proposed a motion not to deliver homes but to scapegoat immigrants and shift blame on to those with the least while letting those in power and with power off the hook. Leadership is not about pitting people against each other but about stepping up when the public are hurting. Right now, people are sore and angry, and they have every right to be, though anger is not the problem. The problem is what we do with it. We should all be angry. Anger is a powerful tool and force for change. The Executive cannot just tell people that they will do "what matters most": they need to actually do it. For 10 years, the Executive, when we have had one, have failed to treat housing as a priority. That is why anger is spilling on to the streets. Let us be clear though: violence solves nothing, but neither does silence and, certainly, nor does neglect. Housing is not a headline, but it is a lifeline. How can the public, and how can we in the Chamber, have confidence in an Executive who consistently fail to meet their own targets and dress up failures as success and who struggle to be held to account or to face accountability? We need to rebuild confidence in leadership, because, right now, that is in even shorter supply than homes. We in the Opposition are not here just to criticise. I have no doubt that the Minister will stand up in response to the debate, as seems to be the pattern, and ask, "Well, what answers do you have?". We have set out answers. We do not have them all, but we can play our part in providing them. We have set out a clear road map in our 'Building Firm Foundations' plan: properly fund social housing, curb the ballooning cost of rent and temporary accommodation, repurpose public land and do it fast, address the growing number of empty homes across our communities and reuse them for people who are crying and dying for a roof over their heads, and tackle the waste water infrastructure crisis. The people outside these walls are not asking for the impossible; they are asking for a home, an opportunity and a life not lived in limbo. They deserve better than this. I propose the motion.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

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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