Debate contribution: Housing Costs

Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on 19 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Timothy Gaston

Party at the time

Traditional Unionist Voice

Date

19 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Housing Costs

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5322627

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I acknowledge that fact, Mr Durkan, and I intend to use my time to reinforce that point. I acknowledge that the Opposition have previously tabled motions on the subject. We heard the Sinn Féin contributor blame the Brits, just like her Minister, but she ignored the reality that her Minister presides over the failure of Northern Ireland Water. Currently, 73 waste water treatment works are at capacity. Developers are now paying out of their own pockets for makeshift engineering fixes just to free up capacity. When those efforts fall short, ordinary people are left in the lurch. Let us look at a real, live case that I have in North Antrim. Back in July 2025, in response to a question for written answer, the Minister for Infrastructure said that Cullybackey is served by Ballymena waste water treatment works:

"which currently has available capacity to facilitate development."

That sounds good. She went on to say:

"therefore, NI Water has no plans to undertake an upgrade of the waste water treatment works."

In January 2026, NI Water said:

"Due to the level of waste water constraints this area serving 22 Ballymena Road, Cullybackey, is a closed catchment to all new developments that will see an intensification of foul sewage discharge. The downstream waste water infrastructure in Cullybackey is such that there is no capacity for new foul connections. The severity of the issue also means that it is not possible for the developers to undertake ant mitigation measures such as storm water offsetting to achieve connection. The only way the developers will be able to achieve a connection is when NI Water undertakes an upgrade of the downstream wastewater infrastructure. NI Water currently have no plans to undertake the required upgrade to our wastewater infrastructure."

In essence, that area in my constituency is closed, and the Minister does not want to know. That is a major problem that adds to the backlog. The next issue that I will cover is HMOs, which are adding further strain to supply and demand. Members may not want to face up to the fact, but houses in multiple occupation are pushing up rents in working-class areas and hollowing out settled communities. The current centralised system is outdated and detached from local reality. Councils must own the responsibility for HMOs in their area. There is another issue that the motion avoids, and it is that of asylum accommodation. We are housing asylum seekers in hotels and private properties at taxpayers' expense while failing to build enough social houses for our own people.

I am coming to that, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is the case that the company at the centre of that is Mears, which is a government contractor that is hoovering up housing stock right across Northern Ireland. That has led to an issue with supply and demand once again. The more houses that Mears hoovers up, the fewer houses that there are for local people to avail themselves of. That, in turn, pushes up rents in other areas. Last May, the Executive Office told me that 288 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels. That is not compassionate policy but, rather, reckless mismanagement that shrinks housing —

— supply, drives up rents and fuels tensions.

As I said, Mr Deputy Speaker —.

Absolutely, Mr Deputy Speaker. As I said in my last breath, that reckless mismanagement shrinks housing supply, drives up rents and fuels tensions. Instead of confronting that reality, Members opposite want to impose so-called third-generation rent controls on people. Where does the SDLP also want to take us? Would we be better off under Dublin? That is its long-term goal. The average rent south of the border in Dublin is now €2,000 a month. House prices are currently beyond the reach of ordinary working people. We absolutely have challenges here, but we need to confront the reality. Unless we get our waste water infrastructure right, we are always going to have that problem. Demand is greater than supply. We need to get supply right, and that can come about only —

— through getting our waste water infrastructure right.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:17 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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