People Before Profit Cllr Shaun Harkin said the NI Audit Office report on homelessness is warning to Stormont Executive on need for urgent action on housing scarcity and prevention.
Said Cllr Harkin: “The recent NI Audit Office report on homelessness made a stark warning for the Stormont Executive to urgently increase the building of social housing and vastly increase funding for prevention measures.
“The NI Audit Office warns that a failure to act will escalate the cost of homelessness services to the point where it is financially unsustainable.
“The Housing Executive spent over £12 million on hotels and B&Bs alone for temporary accommodation last year compared to only £0.9 million in 2018-19.
“While only 6% of the homelessness services budget is spent on prevention.
“At the centre of this crisis is housing scarcity. The Housing Executive identified a need for 25,000 new social houses between 2023 and 2028, yet current funding levels and capacity issues mean that new starts are falling woefully short of this target.
“Targets of 2,000 for new social housing units in 2023-24 and 2024-25 weren’t met because of lack of funding from Stormont.
“The Stormont Programme for Government commits to build around 5,800 social homes by 2027 but funding exists for only 1,000.
“Over 50,000 applicants languish on the housing waiting list, with 32,633 in “housing stress.”
“The lack of political will to address this issue has condemned a generation to live in unsuitable and often unsafe conditions.
“The human cost of this crisis is staggering. Over 18,000 children here are currently homeless, living in temporary accommodation such as hotels and B&Bs.
“This instability disrupts their education, mental health, and overall development, jeopardising their futures.
“The doubling of children in temporary accommodation over the past five years is a damning indictment of Stormont’s failure.
“Adding to the strain on homelessness services is the lack of adequate mental health support and addiction services.
“Meanwhile, across Derry, the North and throughout the island thousands of empty properties have been allowed to fall into a desperate state of disrepair.
“These properties represent a huge wasted opportunity to provide safe, secure housing for families in need.
“People Before Profit call for these properties to be seized and repurposed into family homes, providing immediate relief to those on the housing waiting list.
“Stormont must act on the Audit Office warning by prioritising construction of new social housing, adequately funding homelessness prevention measures, and address the systemic issues that have led to this crisis.
“Without a sustained heave from below to force the Stormont Executive to expedite a mass social housing build the housing crisis will continue to grow.”
Tags: