People Before Profit Cllr Shaun Harkin has said the Stormont Executive’s housing plan lacks urgency and won’t bring comfort to families trapped on housing waiting lists.
“It would have been much better if the DfC Minister had announced the launch of an immediate multi-year mass social housing build led by the Housing Executive with funding agreed for bricks and addressing infrastructure blockages.
“Instead, we got a grandiose plan and a promise. Promises made by the Stormont Executive don’t tend to get fulfilled.
“The DfC Minister’s announcement of a Housing Supply Strategy will bring little comfort to the more than 6000 families trapped on the housing waiting list in Derry and Strabane District or Housing Executive and frontline homelessness workers overwhelmed with demands for support.
“The Stormont Executive wants congratulated on a draft plan that’s been around already for too long to oversee the building of 100,000 new homes over the next 15 years, including 33,000 social homes.
“An urgent and immediate housing response plan is too much to expect from a government that created the housing crisis in the first place by championing privatisation and attempting to destroy the Housing Executive.
“The Stormont Executive went about compounding the crisis at every point leading to the massive increases on the waiting list and homelessness.
“People Before Profit, trade unions and housing campaigners have called for the Housing Executive to be properly funded to lead the mass building of social housing and climate proofed renovation of all of its existing stock as the key to addressing the housing crisis. This remains the case.
“Housing scarcity and the massive yearly spikes in private rental costs are driving the housing crisis but the Stormont political establishment has resisted demands for rent regulation, mortgage support and protections against unjust evictions.
“The Stormont Executive refused to utilise the Empty Homes Strategy to potentially bring thousands of houses back into use and continues to dither on this open goal.
“Stormont’s strategy has been to support privatisation and leave house-building to the ‘market’, just like everything else.
“This has brought great benefits to a few but has been disastrous for everyone else. Without funding we are in danger of the Stormont Executive repeating this, no matter what the Housing Supply Strategy claims.
“With almost 90,000 people facing housing waiting list misery and many struggling to pay their rents, we need to increase the pressure on the Stormont Executive to properly fund the Housing Executive to lead an immediate mass housing build, modernise existing stock, bring empty homes back into use, introduce rent regulations and protections against evictions.”
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