Debate contribution: Housing and the Programme for Government

Debate contribution by Mr John Stewart on 17 June 2025.

MLA

Mr John Stewart

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

17 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Housing and the Programme for Government

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5013705

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thanks very much, Mr Speaker. I am happy to wind up on our amendment. It has been a good debate so far and has been held in good tone. I say from the outset that there should be no room for party politics when it comes to a housing crisis and when people need a roof over their head. There should be room not for political point-scoring or rhetoric but rather for constructive cross-party cooperation. For the most part, that is what we see, and I think that we see that from the Minister, who is trying his best, often in very difficult circumstances. We thank everyone who so far has committed to supporting our amendment. We want to do that in the constructive tone that was intended, and we thank the SDLP for tabling the motion. I acknowledge the Minister's commitment and his work to date in tackling homelessness and progressing the housing supply strategy through the document that was released recently. That needs to be seen in context. When placed against the scale of the housing crisis that we face, it simply does not go far enough. That is not a criticism of the Minister or the Department, and it is not a political swipe. It is an honest reflection on the reality that thousands of people across Northern Ireland are homeless. As we have heard already, 49,000 families are currently on the social housing waiting list, with a significant percentage of those currently deemed to be homeless. That is lamentable in 2025 in a modern society. The aim to build 1,000 homes a year simply will not go anywhere close enough at this stage to even tackle that. The Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations has said that we need to build 2,200 houses a year, and that probably is not enough either. The Minister knows that, and we know that. We are dealing with difficult circumstances, and my party colleague from East Belfast has already pointed out what some of those are. There are the infrastructure issues, which we are all aware of. The fact that we cannot build enough homes or develop Northern Ireland to the level that it needs to be developed to because of capacity issues is, quite simply, scandalous. Recently, we heard that £10 million had to be allocated under the June monitoring round just to ensure that there was not a crisis in the freshwater supply. That is lamentable, and that needs to be tackled and dealt with.

Absolutely.

Thank you for the extra minute, Mr Speaker. I absolutely agree. Developer contributions will solve, potentially, one aspect of it, but they will not solve the pressure on social housing because they will come at a cost, which housing associations will often be unable to afford to pay. Also, ultimately, it will be the people who are buying or renting those homes who will indirectly pay the costs of developer contributions. It will not solve the problem. It is possibly one small piece of a multitude of issues that need to be dealt with. Sadly, we are not hearing enough about those. My colleague and others have pointed out the need for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to have additional borrowing powers. I know that the Minister and all parties in here have been lobbying the British Government to ensure that that can happen. That is vital. Fifty years ago, the Housing Executive was building 50 times the number of homes that it is building now, I understand. It is regrettable that we are at the stage now where it cannot borrow the money to build the number of homes that we need. The final bit that my colleague pointed out was that this is not just an issue for the Communities Minister but one for all Departments and for the Executive as a whole. We need to ensure that the money is there, that the housing supply strategy can be implemented and that we go further than that. If it is not seen to be a full Executive priority, it will not get the level of support that it needs. I thank everyone again for supporting our amendment, and I commend it to the House.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

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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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