Housing Executive needs to deliver on its obligations

By Carál Ní Chuilín
As a public representative it never fails to make me angry when I see so many much-needed houses lie empty and destroyed as we continue to fight tooth and nail for every single decent family home.

Clearly the Housing Executive is finding it impossible to deliver on its obligations to eradicate generations of homelessness and eliminate the waiting list – both of which continue to outstrip need. Nowhere is this more stark than here in North Belfast.

Sinn Féin has proposed innovative and imaginative alternative funding mechanisms to resolve this dilemma.
In our Economic document “There Is A Better Way” Sinn Féin has proposed the establishment of a not–for–profit Social Housing Agency with the capability of borrowing from amongst other sources – the European Bank. According to a 2009/10 analysis the Housing Executive generated a rental income of £240million while having out goings for maintenance, management and overheads of £180million. This leaves a surplus of £60million available for investment and housing construction.

Combined with the hugely significant efforts Sinn Féin Ministers have made to direct resources to housing through the Assembly Executive, Sinn Féin is proposing a target of 2,500 new homes per annum over the next four years.

We strongly argue that the ongoing review of the Housing Executive provides a real opportunity to bring forward this major re-structuring of the finances of the HE whilst reinforcing it’s current crucial social remit .
Clearly an innovative approach such as this is required.

The fall off in capital receipts in recent years has impacted on the ability of the Housing Executive to fund the building of sufficient houses to meet the soaring need.
It has also resulted in a serious backlog on vital maintenance and improvements to homes, which often lie empty to be vandalized beyond cost effective repair.

It is estimated that there are 5000 dwellings, which require significant refurbishment. All this at a time when in North Belfast alone there are in the region of 600 people living in crisis in hostels.

While the primary purpose of the Sinn Féin proposal is to address homelessness and the waiting list, a number of studies have identified investment in housing as having a positive benefit in terms of Health and Education which would ease the pressure on these two important areas of huge public spending.

It would obviously have a very significant impact on the construction industry and employment in general and act as a crucial driver in economic recovery.
In effect what we are proposing is the creation of a Social Housing Agency governed by a board consisting of equal numbers drawn from Housing Executive, Tenant Representatives and independents.

This type of governance would have the effect of the body being classified as non-public sector and therefore allow it to borrow from private sources.

It would also provide tenants with a real sense of ownership by involving them in the management arrangements of the Agency – involvement that isn't currently available to them.

It isn't rocket science, investing in family homes and jobs in construction and maintainence is the clear way forward not just in terms of social justice but as an economic driver.

Sinn Féin have set out our clear vision and grasped the initiative with imaginative and constructive proposals whilst challenging the other parties to join us on the firm ground of strongly opposing the Tory social engineering of slash and burn politics.