Derry facing a housing crisis, say local MLAs

Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 4th May 2020 -
Construction workers return to working at the Thaxton Village in Lisburn, County Antrim.
Hagan Homes, one of Northern Irelandâ€TMs largest homebuilders, resumed construction on eight of its construction sites in Belfast, Carrickfergus, Antrim and Lisburn from Monday 4th May, having taken the precautionary step of closing all its sites over a month ago.
The contractors are all complying with Construction Employer Federation (CEF) guidance and the governmentâ€TMs social distancing guidelines
Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. — Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 4th May 2020 - Construction workers return to working at the Thaxton Village in Lisburn, County Antrim. Hagan Homes, one of Northern Irelandâ€TMs largest homebuilders, resumed construction on eight of its construction sites in Belfast, Carrickfergus, Antrim and Lisburn from Monday 4th May, having taken the precautionary step of closing all its sites over a month ago. The contractors are all complying with Construction Employer Federation (CEF) guidance and the governmentâ€TMs social distancing guidelines Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.

Sinn Féin MLA Martina Anderson said more needs to be done to encourage the development of more social houses. “In 2019, in my Derry constituency, there were 4,510 people on the housing waiting list. In the same year, only 1,231 people were housed. Derry has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the North, and one of the lowest rates of approval for new plans to build additional social housing,” she said.

Ms. Anderson said issues around sewers were holding up some builds. “Due to nearly a decade of Tory austerity and its impact in slashing things such the budget for NI Water, even when social housing is planned in Derry, building is stalled. I am sure that it is not just in Derry, but it is certainly the case in my constituency because there is simply not the sewerage capacity to build the new houses,” she said.

SDLP MLA Sinead McLaughlin agreed more needed to be done. “We have a housing crisis in NI. We have very long waiting lists for social housing. Around 38,000 households are on the waiting list, with about 26,000 of our households in housing stress and 12,000 recognised as homeless. Yet, we are building fewer than 1,000 new social homes per year. At the current rate of progress, it will take several decades to clear the social housing waiting list. That is unacceptable,” she said.