Housing has been in the news this week for the all wrong reasons. In the first instance it’s wrong that a society should struggle to satisfactorily house its population and it’s also wrong to blame this crisis on people arriving from overseas.
We hear plenty about housing problems in the Republic, and rightly so, but north of the border it’s only better in relative terms with the situation expected to get worse unless there’s a significant policy shift.
As of this year’s first quarter there were 47,312 households on the social housing waiting list, three-quarters of who are experiencing housing stress.
In recent weeks, Sinn Féin in the Republic has launched a housing policy document, albeit as the official opposition, while the new Labour administration has promised 1.5m new homes by 2029 in England and Wales.
Stormont’s last draft housing strategy was launched in December 2021 by the then communities minister Deirdre Hargey. It was an ambitious template, pledging to build 100,000 new homes over 15 years, though critics claim it was light on detail. It featured prominently six months later in Sinn Féin’s assembly election manifesto but that was the last we heard of it.
The Department for Communities has declined to explain what happened to Ms Hargey’s plan so we must assume it fell victim to the DUP’s two-year boycott of the Stormont institutions.
The current communities minister Gordon Lyons has previously described a revised housing strategy as a priority and said he will seek executive approval for his draft version “shortly”.
It’s unclear how it differs from his predecessor’s but taking into account an anticipated three-month consultation of the new strategy, at least three years will have elapsed with no plan in place at a time when those in the sector believe we in the midst of a crisis that is deepening by the day.
In June, it emerged that more than 5,000 children were living in temporary accommodation in Northern Ireland, an increase of 110% over five years.
Housing people in temporary accommodation is not only to the detriment of their wellbeing, it also costs tens of millions of pounds that could be spent more effectively elsewhere.
Meanwhile, financial resources for building social houses are being cut as Stormont grapples with budget constraints. It’s estimated that at least 2,200 social houses are required to built every year to meet demand, yet this year will see only 417 new homes for housing association and Housing Executive tenants.
The shortage of homes is exacerbated by underinvestment in wastewater treatment, which has led to moratoriums on developments in dozens of areas across the north.
Like many of the issues facing our executive, addressing the housing crisis requires cross-departmental policies and support from multiple ministers. If it is a priority, it needs to be enshrined in the long-awaited programme for government and backed by appropriate resources.
Failing to provide and adequate, strategic solution will prove costly in the long-term and only provide ammunition for those who wish to blame others for politicians’ failings.
