Over 6.500 applicants on Derry and Strabane social housing waiting list

Social housing waiting lists now stand at 50,381 households.

The local government districts with the highest number of applicants were Belfast (14,196) and Derry City and Strabane (6,556).

The Department for Communities latest Housing Bulletin also showed homelessness increased by 1,693 (5%) households from the same period last year.

Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Councillor Patricia Logue has said that Minister Lyons must get to grips with the housing and homelessness crisis. "The figures released showing that over 50,000 households are now waiting for a social home are extremely concerning. "They reveal a worsening housing crisis, and so far, DUP Housing Minister Gordon Lyons has completely failed to get to grips with the issue. "The minister's scheme to purchase 600 homes for temporary accommodation has not yet delivered one single home in the north. "This is unacceptable. "The statistics should act as a wake up call to Minister Lyons who urgently needs to get to grips with the crisis in housing."

Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan said that homelessness in the Derry and Strabane area has increased by 104% in the last decade.

“It has become accepted that every time we see a new set of housing figures the situation around social housing waiting lists, homelessness and the cost of buying and renting a home only gets higher.

"We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to these figures, behind every single one of them is a family who is struggling to get a roof over their heads.

“We recognise the housing situation will not be resolved overnight, but despite Executive bluster next to no progress has been made.

"The SDLP proposed a number of interventions including the use of public land, but despite warm words from the Minister on this, purchasing 600 properties for the Housing Executive to reduce the huge temporary housing spend and intermediate rent options, we are no further forward.

“The Executive has fallen far short its promises to address the housing crisis and the situation has only gotten worse since Stormont’s return. The Minister is set to miss his own meagre housing target by the end of this mandate and without an intervention the situation is only going to get worse and worse putting real strain on families who want a home to call their own.”

Meanwhile, commenting on the release of Northern Ireland’s Q1 Housing Bulletin by the Department for Communities, Deirdre Canavan, Deputy Director of Services and Development at homelessness charity Depaul, is calling on the government to take radical action as the homelessness crisis deepens, with now 39,008 households in Northern Ireland living under “Housing Stress”. “It is unfortunately not surprising to us at Depaul that 2,627 households in Northern Ireland were accepted as being statutory homeless in the first three months of 2026. The social housing waiting list continues to grow, with the number of applicants passing 50,000 for the first time. We are mindful that behind everyone one of those numbers is a person, men, women and children, living through the trauma that comes with experiencing homelessness.”

“Although there were 1,700 social housing development starts, this takes the total number of starts in the last year to 1,765. We need to see much more if the Executive is going to hit its target of beginning building 5,850 new social homes by 2027.

"We also remain greatly concerned over budgets - we are almost in June and still no budget has been agreed by the Executive so we are operating services at risk. This is an unsustainable situation and truly worrying given the growing homelessness crisis in Northern Ireland.”

“The homelessness sector is already struggling with the cost of living crisis. If the upcoming budget doesn’t include an inflationary uplift for Supporting People, we could potentially see staffing levels decrease and therefore a decrease in homelessness service provision in Northern Ireland. This would have a catastrophic impact for those in homeless crises who already face dramatically worsened physical and mental health outcomes; they would have no other option than to turn to acute emergency and statutory services who are already under pressure. That cannot and should not happen.”

“A lack of funding for the homelessness sector will increase homelessness in Northern Ireland and the amount of money spent on emergency accommodation will continue to skyrocket. Housing is the most basic and fundamental need. We remain appalled that a large number of people in Northern Ireland do not have a secure, affordable, decent place to call home.”