The numbers of people and families on the waiting list for homes and the thousands in temporary accommodation and in hotels makes the costs to the public purse astronomical. These costs do not include the thousands of families that are going through the process that recognises and deems them homeless. The Executive parties need to work across departmental boundaries and budgets to deliver the housing programme that was promised over the past 25 years. We have had a housing crisis for decades and all that has been delivered is a fraction of the homes promised.

The Workers Party in our response to the programme for government were critical of the lack of ambition and financial detail on the section dealing with housing it was mostly aspirational and with the same vague language that is used when nothing on the scale needed is going to be delivered. We called for a state construction company to be set up. This would not only build the homes that are needed, it would create sustainable well paid jobs that would boost the local economy and would also provide apprenticeships for our young people.

A house is not just bricks and mortar: for the people who live in it, it is a home not a commodity to be used to accumulate profits. Having good quality public housing improves our life chances, to employment, education, health, and overall wellbeing. The right to a home is a human right, as is the right to afford the basic necessities such as food, heating, electricity, water, and the other essentials that allow our citizens to live in dignity.