Part 1
In this 2 part Blog, our policy officer Aidan Campbell explains the shortfall in new build social housing in rural communities and what that means for prospective tenants and the communities they live in..
Photo by Ron Gemmell
Social
housing in Northern Ireland is provided by social landlords below market rent for
people who are in housing need. Up until
1996 the Housing Executive was the main provider of social housing and is still
the biggest social landlord in Northern Ireland. It rents over 85,000 properties, but it no
longer builds new social housing. In the
late 1990s a Housing Policy review transferred responsibility for building new
social housing from the Housing Executive to the Housing Associations. Housing Associations are independent, not for
profit, social businesses that provide homes and support for people in housing
need. The Department for Communities
provides Housing Association Grant (HAG), through the Housing Executive to the
Associations to finance new build social housing. HAG is approximately 50% of
the total capital cost per unit. The
remainder of the cost of new build social housing must be raised by the Housing
Associations borrowing money from the private market or re-investing from their
own funds.
The Housing
Executive, although no longer building new homes, undertakes a range of
functions under its regional services remit.
If you are in housing need you apply through the Housing Executive. They assess each applicant using a points-based
system and a common waiting list is created from which both Housing Executive
and Housing Associations allocate homes to those most in need. Those applicants with 30+ points are said to
be in “housing stress”. In theory this is how the system is supposed to
work. In practice, if you want to live
in an area where there is high demand for social housing (such as North &
West Belfast) you can get stuck on the waiting list even if you are deemed as
being in housing stress.
Each year a
target for new build social housing is set by Government. The Programme for Government Outcomes
Delivery Plan 2018/19
says that it will use the numbers of households in housing stress to measure
and report on progress. It also stated
that in 18/19 1850 new social home starts were to be provided. A separate rural target, which is a
percentage of the overall target, is also set by the Housing Executive as part
of its commitment to rural proofing.
This recognises that a percentage of social housing applicants who put
down a “rural” area as their first choice when applying. The Housing Executive defines “rural” areas
as being those settlements with a population of less than 5000 people and open
countryside. For four out of the past five
years the rural new build target has been missed. The target for new build social housing in NI
last year was 1850 units with 1786 started.
11.5% of that 1850 target (212 units) were supposed to be built in rural
communities. This reflects the 11.5% of
applicants on the waiting list who wanted a rural area as their first
choice. Of the 212 target 129 units were
provided in rural areas. So, 96% of the
overall target was achieved and the shortfall was in rural areas.
There is a
huge mismatch in the level of new build social housing compared to the level of
housing need across Northern Ireland. Simply put we aren’t building enough
social housing. According to NISRA’s Northern Ireland Housing Statistics
2017/18 report 36,198 applicants were on the social
housing waiting list. Of those 24,148
were deemed to be in housing stress with 30+ points. Although the overall target set by
government for last year was almost achieved (1786 starts out of a target of
1850) it won’t make much impact on the overall waiting list. Even if no one else came onto the waiting
list it would take 13 years to build enough social housing at our current rate
of new starts to house those people already in housing stress.
In previous decades the rate of social house
building was more than twice what we are building now:
“In the
1980s the Housing Executive typically built more than 5000 dwellings per year.”[1]
This is a
chronic issue in North and West Belfast that has been highlighted extensively
by the Participation and Practice of Rights
Project and lots of
other community organisations in the city.
It is also an issue, though less visible, in rural communities.
This blog
will be continued next week when Aidan talks about the provision of social
housing in rural communities.
[1]
Social Housing in NI: Challenges and Policy Options, Joe Frey UK Collaborative
Centre for Housing Evidence Oct 2018 available at
