AQW 54808/11-16


Mr Andy Allen MBE
Ulster Unionist Party
East Belfast


Tabled Date: 25/02/2016
Answered On Date: 02/03/2016
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister for Social Development what action his Department is taking to address the lack of social and affordable housing.


Answer:
The Housing Executive is responsible for the identification and calculation of social housing need which is used to formulate the Social Housing Development Programme. The Housing Executive’s annual assessment of housing need across all district councils is used to determine the supply and demand for new social housing across Northern Ireland.
The Housing Executive, through its review of the current arrangements for the delivery of the Social Housing Development Programme, is assessing if there may be alternative mechanisms that will improve the delivery of social housing in Northern Ireland. This review is underway and the findings will be reported to me in due course.
I have recently approved the rolling three year gross Social Housing Development Programme covering the period 2016/17 to 2018/19. However you may wish to note that the Housing Executive has set an indicative target to deliver 8,000 new starts by 2020.
In respect of affordable housing, the Northern Ireland Co-Ownership Housing Association (NICHA) continues to be my Department’s main delivery partner. Over the last year, my Department has secured nearly £95 million in Financial Transactions Capital (FTC) loan funding for the Co-Ownership Scheme for the period 2015/16 to 2018/19. It is anticipated that this funding, in conjunction with its private finance, will permit NICHA to deliver over 2,600 additional affordable homes.
My Department has also secured £31 million in FTC loan monies to pilot the Affordable Home Loans Fund (AHLF) and Co-Ownership’s Rent to Own Initiative (formerly Rent to Purchase). These two programmes are collectively expected to deliver over 700 additional affordable homes over the coming 3 to 4 years.
My Department recognises that there continues to be significant supply barriers hampering the delivery of housing of all tenures in the wake of the economic downturn. To this end, the Department is actively working in conjunction with the NIHE and other Executive Departments to provide surplus public land sites to Housing Associations for the provision of social and affordable housing.