The Housing Minister can only build half of the houses promised for this year in the Programme for Government. What are promises for if they are constantly broken?
As of April this year, the total number of applicants on the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) waiting list is almost 50,000, Most of these households are in ‘housing stress’, which means that these are households on the social housing waiting list assessed as having an acute need for a home. At the end of 2002/3, the number of such households was 13, 042, in September 2020 the number was 29, 539, and in 2025 the number is almost 38,000.
In addition, 4,041 households presented as homeless and the household types with the highest proportion of homeless presenters were single males (35.4%) and families (27.9%).
The Stormont coalition’s Programme for Government (PfG) aimed to have started work on at least 5,850 new build social homes in Northern Ireland by 2027 – around 3,000 homes a year for the next two years. However, on the basis of the current budget the number of homes started this year will be lower than the 1,504 started last year, with the minister responsible for housing declaring that, “we are left in a position where we're funding less the 50% of the Programme for Government housing target,".
This is nothing short of scandalous. The PfG was only released in the early part of this year. The Workers Party in our response to the Programme for Government in late 2024 called for a state construction company to be set up to deal with the housing crisis in the most environmentally sustainable ways. This would also create well paid sustainable employment and apprenticeships for our young people, and a much-needed boost to the local economy.
As noted, the number of people who are registered as homeless is large and growing worse day by day, as is the number of families living in temporary accommodation. The Workers Party has always contended that homes are much more than bricks and mortar; they affect our life chances to education, employment opportunities, to mental and physical wellbeing, and all other aspects of life.
It would seem that the Programme for Government is nothing more than attempt to gaslight the citizens of Northern Ireland and it is time the Executive stopped making excuses for their failures.
It is also worth noting that apart from a vague commitment to “creating sustainable and inclusive spaces”, the PfG has nothing to say about the fact that much of our housing spaces are segregated. In 2022, when repeatedly asked to comment on the slight increase in desegregated social housing provision since 2008, Sinn Fein, and the SDLP said nothing, whilst the DUP indicated it would issue a statement, and then didn’t. The tepid commitment to “inclusive spaces” comes at a time when clear majorities would like to see integrated workplaces, schools and housing.
It is time for the Executive parties to put the needs of those who elected them front and centre instead of their own tribal interests.