Housing Executive to concentrate on Derry and Belfast after green light to buy 600 temporary accommodation homes

The Housing Executive has welcomed approval from the Minister for Communities for an ambitious new programme to purchase homes for temporary accommodation.

Developed by the Housing Executive itself, the initiative will enable the organisation to purchase 600 homes, over a three year period, to use as temporary accommodation, and will concentrate on Derry and Belfast as starting points for acquisitions with demand and usage of non-standard hotel/B&B accommodation greatest in the Belfast Region and here in the west.

The move should see the social housing body having to rely less on the use of private-owned hotels and B&Bs, which it has been using due to lack of availability of other suitable forms of accommodation.

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Purchased with funds from the organisation’s Landlord Rental Income Reserve, the 600 new properties will be used in the short and medium term.

Grainia Long, Housing Executive.placeholder image
Grainia Long, Housing Executive.

Housing Executive Chief Executive, Grainia Long said: “We have been open and transparent about the unprecedented demand for temporary accommodation.

“The number of placements in temporary accommodation reached 11,368 in 2023/24, a 151% increase from 4,527 in 2020.

"We have prioritised high quality temporary accommodation. As a result, the financial cost of temporary accommodation has increased rapidly in recent years not only as a result of increased demand but also due to supply of suitable accommodation. We are overly dependent on leasing properties from private landlords, which are sometimes withdrawn at short notice, and are usually in very short supply.

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“In October 2023 we established an internal task and finish group to explore future options for temporary accommodation across Northern Ireland with a focus on reducing the use of existing non-standard accommodation and increasing the use of single-let private rented accommodation.

“We have succeeded in controlling costs, but too often are dependent on an unpredictable private rental market.

“We believe that purchasing properties will allow us to increase the provision of cost-effective, own front door temporary accommodation for those in need.”

Work on this new initiative will commence with property identification planning through strategic needs assessments.

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Costs for temporary accommodation in 2023/24 were approximately £27m with a further increase of £9m to approximately £36m expected in 2024/25.

The Housing Executive said the largest need for temporary accommodation was concentrated in the Belfast Region followed by the West Area.

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