Housing waiting list not being tackled by DSD

By Carál Ní Chuilín
Sometimes I feel like I may as well just write a note to Santa asking for him to address the housing waiting list in North Belfast.
At least I would have a chance of getting a straight answer! The latest juggling of the figures on the face of it would give you the impression that the Housing Executive and the SDLP minister Margaret Ritchie are tackling the generations of stark inequalities between the nationalist and unionist communities housing needs.
That impression is wrong and it’s long passed the time when communities in need will be fobbed off with rearranging the deck chairs whilst the Titanic sinks.
In March 2002 nationalists made up over 80% of those on the waiting list in North Belfast. Six years on the differential is slightly less. In March 2008 nationalists made up just over 70% of those on the housing list in North Belfast.
Closer examination of these statistics tell a more alarming story. The slight lessening of housing inequalities between nationalists and unionists in North Belfast cannot be attributed to a proactive effort on the part of the NIHE or the DSD.
Things have not got better for the nationalist community. The number on the waiting list has risen steadily year on year and reached 1053 by March 2008.
The differential has been closed because Unionists are increasingly represented on the social housing waiting list.
Since 2002 the numbers of nationalists on the waiting list increased by 38% while the number of unionists waiting for social housing increased by 132% to 421.
Whilst two and a half times as many unionists across the North of Ireland are in need of housing for older households as nationalists .
There are also significantly more nationalists than unionist ‘small family’ and ‘large family’ households on the waiting list, and slightly more ‘single’ nationalist.
Thus the increasing demand for the aging Unionist population simply increases the total demand and gives the impression of addressing inequality.
Let me make Sinn Féin's position clear. Equality is indivisible. Need must be addressed wherever it exists and nowhere is that more stark than in this constituency. The insulting attempt to represent the change between Nationalist and Unionist housing need as tackling the problem, whilst the overall demand increases, is pathetic. Worryingly the projections are that the social housing new build programme will fall by a quarter over the coming five years in Belfast.
Also the small impact that ring fencing had on the crisis in North Belfast gets axed in yet another strategy which housing campaigners still await a coherent explanation of.
We on Sinn Féin's DSD team battle on a daily basis because for us these are issues of social justice. DSD Minister Margaret Ritchie has a duty to manage the budget effectively and not just produce endless strategies and glossy master plans that fail to tackle housing need objectively.