Over 11,000 awaiting social housing in Derry City & Strabane District

By the end of June there were a total of 11,422 individuals in 6,579 households on the social housing waiting list in the city and district. This is the first time the number of individuals awaiting social housing have been included in the Department for Communities Housing Bulletin.

The report also confirms that the vast majority of the women, men and children on the waiting list in Derry & Strabane – 9,315 people from 5,239 households – were deemed to be in housing stress. Indeed, 8,534 of those people were accepted as being either homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Over the past year, 658 social homes were allocated to people on the waiting list in Derry & Strabane. In addition to this, 114 Housing Executive transfers and a further 151 Housing Association transfers were authorised, bringing the total number of properties allocated to 923.

Across the north there were 92,700 individuals in 50,891 households on the waiting list by the end of June, with over 63,000 accepted as homeless.

Calling for the social housing supply to be increased, Nicola McCrudden, Chief Executive of Homeless Connect, said the figures were “a stark warning about the scale of homelessness”.

"For the first time in the Department's official statistics, we can see not only the number of households affected by homelessness, but the number of people behind those statistics.

Homelessness charities, she said, were ‘working harder than ever’ to support people, but many were struggling to cope ‘while operating in an environment of short-term and inadequate funding’.

"Services cannot continue to plan, recruit and deliver effectively when funding is provided on a short-term basis and without certainty about the future. The reality is that some organisations are having to make impossible decisions about staffing levels, service capacity and the support they can offer to people experiencing homelessness.

"If we are serious about tackling homelessness, government must match its ambitions with sustainable investment. That means funding homelessness services appropriately, providing organisations with long-term certainty, and ensuring they have the resources necessary to respond to growing need.

“We must continue to increase the supply of social and affordable housing and strengthen prevention measures so that fewer people reach the point of homelessness in the first place.

"Without urgent action, both the housing crisis and the pressure on homelessness services will continue to deepen," she said.