SDLP launches plan to fix housing emergency

The policy paper ‘Building Firm Foundations’ sets out how the Executive can deliver 100,000 new homes by 2039.

It was officially launched at Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich in West Belfast recently.

Proposals include:

• Building 2,600 social homes a year and expanding support for first-time buyers and private rental tenants.
• The creation of a Public Land Agency to help build more homes on public land reducing costs and making public funding go further.
• Reforming the planning system and addressing wastewater infrastructure via an independent review of NI Water.
• Establishing a legal duty to cooperate between public bodies with an influence on housing provision and homelessness prevention.

The party’s MLA for Newry & Armagh, Justin McNulty, said: “We cannot escape the scale of the worsening housing emergency facing the North, and indeed this entire island.

"We have over 48,000 households currently sitting on a social housing waiting list with people finding it harder and harder to save a deposit to get on the housing ladder. The average monthly cost for a private rental has passed £1,000 a month and we are seeing record demand for homelessness services.

“This situation has been made even more difficult by the stop-start nature of politics here, the refusal of Executive parties to show leadership on this issue and a lack of investment from successive UK Governments. The Executive has been talking about a Housing Supply Strategy to build 100,000 homes for some years, and while that figure is laudable, there has been precious little detail on how they hope to achieve it. In the past year, they have built just hundreds of social homes.”

He continued: “Given the failure of the Executive to get to grips with this issue, the SDLP Opposition has spent the past few months engaging with stakeholders from the housing sector and others to bring forward a positive vision for the future of housing in Northern Ireland. The proposals we have outlined would enable the Executive to live up to its lofty promise to build 100,000 homes by 2039 and provide dignity to everyone in the North who is currently unable to access the housing they need.

“By taking bold steps instead of shirking tough decisions, we can build the social and affordable housing stock we need, address the issues at NI Water so that developments can go ahead and encourage sustainable housing to protect our environment. We will also be able to work collaboratively on an all-island basis to realise opportunities and address shared challenges.”

Mr McNulty concluded: “I would encourage the Executive to engage constructively with our plan – doing nothing will consign another generation of people here to spending years on a waiting list or living with friends and family long after it ii practical or reasonable. This problem isn’t going away overnight, but it’s clear the current approach to housing isn’t working and that’s why we are making this radical intervention in the form of this robust and ambitious plan.”