Debate contribution: Housing Costs

Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on 19 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Gordon Lyons

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

19 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Housing Costs

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5322659

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the proposer of the motion and all those who have contributed to today's debate. I fully recognise the depth of concern expressed by Members about rising rents. It is something that I experience, week after week, in my constituency, through those who come to me. As recently as Friday, I was dealing with someone who has gone through that experience, and it left her and her family in a very difficult situation. It is something that we are all aware of; we all know about the problem that exists. I will not go over the facts and figures that have been provided, rightly, by other Members in the Assembly. The private rented sector is experiencing strong and sustained rental growth. That has primarily been driven by a shortage of available properties. That is the issue that we face: supply. That does not mean that we have not taken action to address issues around affordability. In April last year, I introduced legislation to restrict rent increases to once in any 12-month period, with a requirement for three months' written notice. That provides important protections for tenants by offering certainty and preventing multiple or unexpected rent increases in a short time frame. Let me touch on one of the issues that has been replicated in the motion and the amendments, and that is rent control. A report commissioned by my Department on rent freezes, known as first-generation rent controls, clearly outlined the potential negative impacts of these types of controls on the sector. In particular, the report highlighted the risk that a large proportion of landlords might exit the private rented market and that that would result in a drop in the supply of private rented properties in an already stretched market. As Mr Carroll referred to earlier, I have previously quoted the UN rapporteur on housing, who came to the Building. He quoted a famous, perhaps the most famous, Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck, who famously said:

"rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing."

That tells you all that you need to know. The Welsh Government commissioned their own research and agreed with that assessment. They have rejected rent controls outright, as they would deter investment and risk reducing supply.

There is more. The Republic of Ireland and Scotland have continued with versions of first-generation rent controls, and reviews have highlighted impacts such as increased initial rents for new tenants, reductions in property maintenance and reduced new supply, especially of build-to-rent homes. The clear lesson from those experiences is that addressing housing supply across all tenures is the most important challenge for the long-term sustainability of the rental sector. It is not the first time that rent control has been discussed in the Assembly. It is worth noting that, over a year ago, I asked Mr Carroll to provide the evidence that, he said, he had that first-generation rent control policies worked. I am waiting for that evidence; I think that I will be waiting for it for some time.

I will give way to Mr Durkan.

I will come to that. I am able to read: I saw what is referred to in your motion. There has, however, been a wider discussion on rent controls. In particular, the Sinn Féin position is not about third-generation rent controls; its amendment calls for "robust rent controls". I have the right to reply to other parties in the Chamber, Mr Durkan. It is not all about you and your motion. It is right that we have that debate.

No. I am sorry: I gave you a year. I gave the Member a year to come back to me. He did not take me up on that, so I will move on. I was referring to the Sinn Féin amendment and why I will not support it this evening. One of the other things that it wants to see happen is the establishment of a body to regulate the rental sector. I have trouble with that simply because of the cost. I am aware of no attempt by those who have called for such a body to be established to quantify those costs or explain where the money would come from. Perhaps, in winding up, Sinn Féin will provide that information. For comparison, the Irish Residential Tenancies Board cost €32 million in 2024. We know the situation regarding rents in the Republic of Ireland, and we wonder whether that would be good value for money. I am, however, happy to hear from the party opposite when it responds. Constrained housing supply will always place pressure on the private rented sector first. That is why I am committed to a balanced approach, protecting tenants while safeguarding investment and supply. I am focused on delivering more affordable homes across Northern Ireland. That is exactly what the housing supply strategy does. We have a target of 100,000 homes over the next 15 years, including 33,000 social homes. Meeting that ambition will be essential for people who rely on access to social housing and cannot depend on the private rented sector, which is not suitable for everyone. Following December monitoring, the budget for new social housing in this financial year is around £207 million. That will deliver 1,750 new starts this year. In cash terms, it is the largest-ever allocation of budget to the programme. I am also taking forward a fundamental review of both grant support and design standards to ensure that we deliver the most appropriate value-for-money homes and more social homes per pound from the Department's budget. It is imperative that the Executive also commit to doing everything that they can to ensure that sufficient budget can be allocated to the social housing development programme as early as possible in order to give us the best chance of achieving our Programme for Government target. I have sought a commitment from the Executive to provide sufficient funds for that programme in line with their Programme for Government commitment so that we can deliver 5,850 new social housing starts within the mandate. The housing sales scheme has undoubtedly been successful in providing people in Northern Ireland who might not otherwise have been able to buy with an affordable route into homeownership. While it has changed the tenure of those homes, the sales scheme has offered and still offers a valuable opportunity for those living in the social sector to acquire and remain in their home. House sales completed through the scheme have steeply declined since 2011, albeit with a small increase in recent years, so we are no longer talking about the many thousands of homes sold during the early years of the scheme. However, while I believe that the Housing Executive's statutory house sales scheme should be retained, I acknowledge that some changes may be necessary to protect certain types of social housing for future generations. It is for that reason that I recently agreed that the Housing Executive should launch a public consultation on several amendments that it has proposed to its sales scheme. Following the consultation, any changes to the scheme will require the Department's approval. Some of the amendments are about the sale of adapted or accessible dwellings that have been subject to major adaptations and the extension of the duration of the option to purchase provision from 10 years to 20 years so that social housing providers will have first refusal for up to 20 years post sale should the property owner decide to sell the property. They will also exclude the sale of flats and leasehold properties and the resale to former leaseholders of sold flats that have been re-acquired by the Housing Executive and exclude time spent as a secure tenant in a registered housing association dwelling for the purposes of the calculation of discount.

It is important that we build the homes that are needed where they are needed. We look at that sort of accommodation. The Member will be aware in particular of what is provided for over-55s. I am not sure whether he is quite in that —.

He is nearly 55, so that interest can be properly declared. That is a commitment to making sure that we retain the housing sales scheme in an appropriate way, so that we do not lose out in the way in which, some people fear, we might. I will now refer to some of the comments made in the debate that I have not yet addressed. I cannot help but pick up on Mr Durkan's comment about my desire to do things differently. I hope that Members can see, whether they like it or not, that we are doing some things differently in the Department with regard to housing policy. We have brought in — we will see the benefits of it within the next year — the intermediate rent policy. I am glad that Mr Durkan supports that, because I want to see it ramped up even further and for us to use more financial transactions capital to achieve that. We have tried to deal with the temporary accommodation issues by using Housing Executive reserves to buy homes so that we can save £75 million over the next seven years. We have ring-fenced budget for homelessness provision, which has not been done before. I have brought forward a housing supply strategy so that we have joined-up work. We have a Programme for Government commitment on housing. Next week, I will bring to the Executive a paper on how we can better utilise public land. We have made significant progress on the revitalisation of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. I have made changes to the housing association rate so that we can go further and make changes to the design guide, which is something that housing associations were calling for and that can reduce the cost of building social homes. We have also invested £153 million of financial transactions capital in co-ownership. Mr Durkan scoffs and shakes his head, but those are things that have been done differently or are being done for the first time and will benefit people in Northern Ireland. He rolled his eyes when I started to talk about some of those achievements. I will certainly give way if he would like to tell us about how much he welcomes the changes that are being brought in and how we are doing things differently. Time is running short. Sian Mulholland raised a legitimate point on the issue of tourism lets facing the north coast in particular. That is being dealt with through the housing supply strategy. Councils have an opportunity and responsibility to act on that through local development plans and the planning process, which will also be taken forward by actions in the housing supply strategy. I welcome Nuala McAllister's taking part in the debate. She says that she does not normally stray from her health portfolio, but, of course, she will recognise that this is a health issue as well. Many of the issues impact directly on the health and well-being of our people, and she is right to raise those issues. Mr Gaston's made a point about Northern Ireland Water. It is absolutely the case that, if we are to make progress and ensure that we have more homes across all tenures in Northern Ireland, we need to make sure that we have the capacity and stand ready to work with the Infrastructure Minister and, indeed, the whole Executive. Lack of progress in that area is holding up development and preventing more homes from being built. That needs to be got on top of, and I have highlighted it as something that should be a priority for the Executive. What do we need to do? We need to deliver a housing system that provides security, affordability and high standards. We need to address pressures in the private rented sector without undermining supply. I assure the House that I will continue to focus on practical solutions to increase supply while improving protections for tenants, because stability and affordability go hand in hand. We have considerable evidence of progress that has been made, but far more progress needs to be made. I look forward to working with Executive colleagues and others in the Chamber to make sure that we deliver on that.

2,063 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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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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