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Nearly 50,000 on Northern Ireland’s social housing waiting list as CIH urges action
Northern Ireland’s social housing waiting list has grown to nearly 50,000 households, the latest official figures reveal.
Nearly 50,000 on Northern Ireland’s social housing waiting list as CIH urges action #UKhousingA total of 49,083 households were on the country’s waiting list as of March this year, according to the Department for Communities.
This represented a 4% rise on the previous 12-month period and is the highest total applicants since 2010.
“This is a problem we can and must fix,” said Justin Cartwright, national director of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Northern Ireland.
Of the 49,083 applicants, nearly 77% – a total of 37,635 – were deemed to be in “housing stress”. This means they have 30 or more points under the social housing selection scheme.
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Mr Cartwright added: “The significant and sustained increase in the social housing waiting list and housing stress is a moral responsibility we cannot ignore. It is a sign that our current system is not meeting the basic needs of a growing number of people.”
The figures, published last week, also revealed that 1,410 social homes were completed in the year to the end of March 2025, broadly in line with last year’s figure of 1,403.
Starts were also broadly flat year-on-year at 1,504. However, the CIH said this was “far short of the more than 2,200 homes needed annually to meet demand”.
Across all tenures, 6,125 new homes were completed, a 13% rise year-on-year. A total of 6,580 homes were started, which was a 10% increase year-on-year.
The number of households accepted as homeless fell by 6% to 10,855, the figures showed.
In the private rented sector, the average weekly rent was £138, while in the social rented sector the average weekly rent was £94, the Department for Communities reported. As of April 2025, Northern Ireland had 841,827 homes across all tenures.
A Housing Executive spokesperson said: “New housing supply is the key to unlocking a secure future for those experiencing homelessness.
“Having an ambitious vision to make that happen is important and reflects the commitments made under the NI Executive’s Programme for Government and the Department for Communities’ Housing Supply Strategy.
“Already this year, the social housing development programme has recorded around 500 housing starts and completions in Northern Ireland.
“5,471 social housing development plan homes are currently under construction, a large number of which will be completed in this financial year.
“Public sector funding remains a challenge, however we continue to make representations for additional funding via the monitoring rounds, as has been the case in previous years.
“An additional £9m was received in the June monitoring round and we will advocate for further funding via this channel as the year progresses.”
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