Debate contribution: Housing and the Programme for Government

Debate contribution by Ms Kellie Armstrong on 17 June 2025.

MLA

Ms Kellie Armstrong

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

17 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Housing and the Programme for Government

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5013584

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I think that it is fair to say that everyone in the House knows that we are in a housing crisis, with more than 47,000 households on social housing waiting lists, more than 36,000 in housing stress, and more than 11,000 people living in temporary accommodation. As other Members have said, they are not just numbers: they are children, families and older people. Despite the growing need, we are building fewer homes today than we have in 60 years, with barely 5,000 in the past year and well short of the 10,000 that we require annually. The failure is systemic and cross-cutting. It is not just a housing problem and, indeed, it is not just a Communities problem; it is a cross-departmental problem. That is why I am calling for an action plan that has been agreed by the whole Executive, evidencing how each Department will contribute to reducing the housing waiting lists and help to meet the new-build targets. I was delighted when the strategy was finally published because we had, at long last, a housing supply strategy. The strategy, as launched, sets the right ambition of building 100,000 new homes over 15 years, and that includes 33,000 social and intermediate homes. I would like to see us actually go past that ambition and aim for more. However, a strategy is only as good as the action that follows and, today, that action is missing. What is holding us back? Northern Ireland Water. As a result of the underfunding of Northern Ireland Water, or however you want to put it, there are 19,000 planned homes — many of them social homes — stuck in limbo because they cannot get connected to sewerage systems. It is not just a technical issue; it is a political one. We need to deal with waste water. The Fiscal Council has already highlighted that the current funding model for Northern Ireland Water is not working. That means that our waste water is not delivering enough capacity for the number of homes that we need to address the housing crisis.

Planning is dysfunctional. Local development plans are gridlocked. Developers, housing associations and councils are all in agreement that, without planning reform, we will not meet even half of our housing targets. That means that the Department for Communities and the Department for Infrastructure must work together to fast-track approvals. We have a collapse in private rental supply. Rents are up over 8% in a year, and the number of available properties has halved since 2019. That means that people are being evicted, coming out of homes and going on to social housing waiting lists. That means that the Economy, Finance and Communities Departments must collaborate on regulation, incentives and public-private partnerships to stabilise and expand affordable rental options. As has been mentioned, we need to ensure that the Housing Executive can have borrowing powers and start to build again. I look forward to an update from the Minister on how negotiations with the Treasury are progressing. We also need to see public land being made available for housing. I look forward to the mapping exercise being completed so that we finally find out what land is available that we can put houses on. A housing strategy without a costed whole-government action plan is just a wish list. We must hold each Department accountable, from Infrastructure to Finance and Communities to Economy, because no one single Department can solve the crisis alone. This is where I ask that a review be completed to ensure that cross-departmental strategies and plans are able to be scrutinised in a way that is not limited by the Committee structures of this place. If the Minister for Communities is taking the lead on the housing supply strategy, his Department must ensure that it monitors, collates and reports to the Committee for Communities on progress. There can be no more fudging. We have to learn from the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme and, as an Assembly, no longer accept "It is not within my Department" as an excuse. If a Minister and his Department are taking the lead on an issue as important as the housing supply strategy, they have to take the lead and report on that. Let us be ambitious and coordinated. Most of all, let us be honest with the people of Northern Ireland. We cannot reduce housing waiting lists or meet our new-build targets without funding the infrastructure, reforming the systems and empowering the agencies that deliver homes. I call on the Assembly to back a fully costed action plan that spans all Departments, aligns with the multi-year Budget cycle and delivers on the promises of our housing supply strategy. Anything less would cause another delay, and, for too many families, delay means despair. In the spirit of working together, Alliance will support the UUP amendment.

812 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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