North Belfast Sinn Feín MLAs Carál Ní Chuilín and Gerry Kelly joined New Lodge residents from the Upper Long Streets as they held a protest on the steps of Stormont and handed in a petition to the social development minister calling for their unfit housing to be redeveloped.
Residents from the streets, who have been waiting ten years for their 100 year old homes to be redeveloped, gathered at Stormont to tell Margaret Ritchie they will not stop fighting until their housing problems are solved.
The residents also held a protest outside Cliftonville Community Regeneration Forum when they were visited by the minister on Wednesday.
They then handed in a petition with 500 signatures to a representative of the SDLP minister and stood with banners proclaiming 'No to Slums".
Earlier this year Margaret Ritchie told the Stormont Assembly she wanted to see a mixture of demolition and refurbishment of the houses. However residents say the homes have already been refurbished in the past and to refurbish again would leave them unfit for purpose in the future.
They are campaigning for complete redevelopment of the houses.
Liam Wiggins from the Upper Long Streets Residents Committee (ULSRC) said residents feel like their campaign is no longer a priority for the Department of Social Development.
"There has been no movement on a decision about what can happen here and we feel like she has put us on the back burner,” said Liam.
“We want to make it clear by the petition and the protest that all the residents are behind the campaign 100 per cent and we won't stop until we get it. This is just the start of a big campaign for us."
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