AQW 6911/16-21

Mr Roy Beggs
Ulster Unionist Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 10/11/2016
Answered On Date: 07/12/2016
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities pursuant to AQW 6284/16-21, to outline any proactive action he is taking to reduce the number of families with children presented to the NIHE as homeless.

Answer:

For 2016/17, over £35 million pounds has been made available to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to work with the voluntary sector to prevent homelessness and to provide vital support to those people, including those with families, who find themselves facing homelessness.

The Housing Executive has advised me that it currently provides funding for 27 accommodation based and 8 floating supporting schemes for homeless families with children at a cost of 4.7 million pounds per annum. These schemes are delivered by 11 service providers (including the Housing Executive) and provide a total of 858 units for homeless families with children throughout Northern Ireland.

In the draft Programme for Government (PfG) I have committed to a number of proactive actions to tackle homelessness including for those with families. These include building 9,600 new social homes, supporting 3,750 first-time buyers to purchase a new home and ensuring that the private rented sector is a good housing option for everyone including families.

In addition this year I am investing almost £1 million in housing advice services for mortgage debt and other housing advice.

The Housing Executive seeks to take proactive action in reducing the number of families with children who present as homeless to them through a number of different measures. The current Homelessness Strategy deals with a range of client groups, including families, while the Housing Options approach currently being piloted by the Housing Executive seeks to assist families in preventing the need to present as homeless and find sustainable housing solutions.