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Northern Ireland deal pledges to increase social housing investment and explore wiping NIHE debts
A draft deal to restore Northern Ireland’s government proposes boosting investment in social housebuilding and measures to ease the Housing Executive’s (NIHE) funding crisis.
The document, published by the British and Irish governments last night and now being considered by Northern Ireland political parties, said housing will be “a specific priority in the programme for government”.
Its plan of action for a new Stormont government – known as the Executive – includes introducing legislation to remove the threat of housing associations being reclassified as public sector organisations, which would severely limit their ability to borrow for building.
And it promises to “enhance investment and agree a target for new social and affordable home starts”.
For the NIHE, the region’s housing authority which owns around 86,000 homes, the deal pledges to “tackle the maintenance backlog” helped by considering wiping the body’s historical debt, exclude it from paying corporation tax and setting a “sustainable” and “affordable” long-term rent policy.
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Northern Ireland has been without since a power-sharing agreement between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin broke down three years ago.
With no ministers at Stormont, issues such as housing association reclassification and the NIHE’s funding woes have gone unaddressed.
A UK Treasury derogation to delay housing association debt being shifted to the public balance sheet is set to end in March, while the NIHE has warned unless a solution comes forward this year it will start “de-investing” in around half its stock.
If the draft deal is agreed by parties and the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA) returns, the Executive will also extend welfare mitigation payments insulating the region’s people from policies such as the bedroom tax.
Current payments are set to end in March, with 34,000 social households in line to be adversely hit by the bedroom tax from April if the measures are not continued.
The document said a review of the mitigation payments “will be taken forward as a priority, with any agreed measures in place before March 2020”.
The deal’s other listed priorities include introducing a new anti-poverty strategy and tackling paramilitarism.
It also focuses on measures aimed at preventing future long periods of political deadlock in Northern Ireland.
As part of the deal, the UK government has promised “financial flexibility to reprofile funding provided as part of the Fresh Start Agreement for shared and integrated education and housing”.
Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith has asked the Speaker to recall the NIA today.
He said: “This is a moment of truth for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. It is a fair and balanced deal that will ensure key decisions about people’s lives can be made.”
Nicola McCrudden, housing consultant and senior associate at Campbell Tickell, said: “This is a new deal for housing and has the capacity to have a positive impact on thousands of families and people living in housing stress and experiencing homelessness.
“Having a safe, affordable, good-quality home is a fundamental need – promoting better health, education and employment opportunities.
“If the parties sign up to this agreement housing will be prioritised by government, meaning there will be a renewed focus on delivering more homes that are genuinely affordable and supporting those who are most disadvantaged in our society.”
Ben Collins, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations (NIFHA), said:
“NIFHA welcomes the proposals in New Decade, New Approach which will reverse reclassification of housing association debt, extend welfare reform mitigations, include a specific housing outcome in the next Programme for Government and move to multi-year social housing development budgets,” he said.
“There is no room for complacency. With record numbers of homelessness and more than 26,000 people living in housing stress in Northern Ireland, there is an urgent need to stop the crisis from escalating further.”
Update: at 15.55pm 10/01/20 a comment from Ben Collins was added to the story.
