AQW 12681/22-27
Mr Mark Durkan
Social Democratic and Labour Party
Foyle
Tabled Date: 29/05/2024
Answered On Date: 11/06/2024
Priority Written: Yes
Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the total spend on temporary and emergency accommodation provision in each of the last two years, broken down by local council area.
Answer:
This issue is an operational matter for the Housing Executive. As such I have sought the requested information from the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, who has advised me as follows: “The temporary and emergency accommodation costs in each of the last two years is made up of the elements in the tables below. Table 1: This table provides the detailed expenditure on all forms of Temporary Accommodation (Single Lets, Hotels, B&Bs and Specialised Accommodation) from 2022/23 to 2023/24 per Local Council area, where it has been possible to identify this. It should be noted that the costs refer to the Local Council from which the applicant presented (originating Council area) rather than the Local Council area to which the placement was made. Council Area | Temporary Accommodation | | 2022/23 £ | 2023/24 £ | Antrim & Newtownabbey Ards & North Down Armagh, Banbridge & Craigavon Belfast Causeway Coast & Glens Derry & Strabane Fermanagh & Omagh Lisburn & Castlereagh Mid & East Antrim Mid Ulster Newry, Mourne & Down | 327,195 767,578 594,689 3,556,666 177,708 4,990,157 457,416 699,321 207,620 423,076 710,462 | 514,111 841,777 839,626 6,283,239 290,174 6,552,009 555,263 884,317 240,940 374,101 802,500 | Costs by Council Area | 12,911,886 | 18,178,056 |
Table 2: This table represents Temporary Accommodation which is located in the Belfast Council area and therefore represent costs directly to this Council area (as opposed to the area where the applicant presented). | Temporary Accommodation | | 2022/23 £ | 2023/24 £ | Farset Block Booking Non-Standard Queens Quarter Accommodation | 392,941 636,884 43,134 | 614,019 1,043,241 99,645 | Belfast Accommodation Costs | 1,072,959 | 1,756,904 |
Table 3: It should also be noted that within Temporary accommodation costs there are additional categories of spend which cannot be broken down by Council Area as per the table below: | Centralised Temporary Accommodation | | 2022/23 £ | 2023/24 £ | Block Booked Single Lets Miscellaneous | 9,082,374 648,045 | 14,073,419 386,699 | Centralised Costs | 9,730,419 | 14,460,118 |
Notes Total temporary accommodation costs for 2022/23 were £23,715,264 and for 2023/24 were £34,395,078. Figures shown for 2022/23 reflect actual expenditure for that year. 2023/24 are draft pending completion of the annual audit process. The figures provided are the gross cost to NIHE of this accommodation and exclude any income that has been received in contribution to the cost. The above centralised costs (Table 3) are currently under review as we investigate the allocation to different areas and are subject to change. In addition, Block Booked Single let costs are centrally managed on a separate system which does not currently allow for costs to be recorded by Council area or presenting office. A further category of ‘Miscellaneous’ is included - this relates to placements and costs where information relating to Council Area are not captured at source on NIHE systems. Again, it is not possible to readily provide this split across various Local Council areas.” For any future queries relating to operational matters, you may wish to contact the Housing Executive directly. Making direct contact with the Housing Executive will ensure that you receive the information in the shortest possible timeframe and make best use of public resources.
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