Calls for homelessness prevention with thousands struggling to access housing as Christmas approaches

Sinn Féin MLA Ciara Ferguson marked Homelessness Awareness Week 2024 by bringing forward an Assembly motion calling for increased housing supply and greater cross-departmental working to ‘realise the goal of making homelessness brief, rare and non-recurrent’.

"It is time for change, time for action and time for a renewed commitment across the Chamber to address, once and for all, the prevalent issue of homelessness throughout each and every one of our communities. As we all know, homelessness is not inevitable,” she said.

The Foyle MLA said homelessness presented an ‘unprecedented challenge’.

"Based on the most recent statistics from November 21, there are over 48,366 households on our social housing waiting list, three quarters of which are deemed to be in acute need of a home.

"Nearly a third of those households have been waiting over five years for a quality, affordable and suitable place to call home. When you take the 58,238 people who are homeless, which is the official statistic as of June 30, 2024, and add the approximately 25,000 people who are deemed to be experiencing hidden homelessness, as suggested by the Simon Community's research, you see that we have over 88,000 people who do not have access to secure housing,” she stated.

SDLP MLA Mark H. Durkan spoke of a young mother from Derry facing homelessness as Christmas approaches.

“While many of us excitedly prepare for the Christmas countdown, others face the harsh reality of keeping, or even getting, a roof over their heads. Recently, a mother reached out to my office after losing her private rented accommodation.

“Amid the chaos of packing up the furniture, searching for a new place to stay and wondering how she would get her children to school if they were relocated across the city or beyond, she remarked that her son's biggest worry was how Santa would find them this year,” he told the Assembly.

Both MLAs spoke of a large increase in expenditure on emergency housing over recent years.

Mrs. Ferguson said: “Spending on temporary accommodation has increased by 495 per cent to £34.5 million over the past five years. Sadly, as of April 2024, the statistics include over 5,106 children.

"Although we welcome the Housing Executive's continued commitment to ensuring that no child spends prolonged periods housed in temporary accommodation, the reality for many others is that lengthy stays of two or more years have become commonplace.”

And Mr. Durkan observed: “We have heard today that there are over 5,000 children in temporary accommodation. In many families, the children will have nowhere to hang a stocking, and there will be no facilities to cook a festive dinner and no table for them to gather around together. Believe it or not, those families are lucky compared to some others.

"The plight of many more families mirrors a modern-day Christmas parable. Many are fleeing persecution and the consequences of poverty, only to be met with this message: there is no room at the inn, the hotel or the B&B.”

77% increase in people in housing stress in Derry/Strabane over past ten years