Northern Ireland Assembly, 26 September 2000
29 contributions from 12 members. The official report.
Housing
Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Belfast South)
I beg to move
That this Assembly notes with concern the growing crisis in the availability of affordable housing and urges the Minister for Social Development to bring forward proposals to address this issue.
I wish to thank all those Members who have gathered here this morning. We probably all have other things to do. Nevertheless, I feel — and I know others will agree — that this issue is serious and important enough for us to concentrate some time on it. I hope we can formulate an approach, or suggest to the Minister that we do so, that will find a solution to an impending crisis.
There are many reasons for proposing this motion today. There is the simple reason of the need for social justice, fair play and decency in a civilised society. There are health reasons. People need decent housing, otherwise their health can be adversely affected. One reason we perhaps do not often think of is that inadequate housing availability will, soon be a threat to our economic development if we do not watch out and pay appropriate attention.
In the short time available to me I shall attempt to cover some of the issues involved. I have no doubt that others around the Chamber will want to touch on many other aspects. We could not hope today to get to grips with all the dimensions, but I should like to think that we can at least highlight the issues and, with the assistance of the Minister, revisit the subject in the not too distant future.
I should like to pick up briefly on the economic implications. As I said earlier, a lack of affordable housing, whether to buy or to rent, is a major threat to our long-term prosperity. While my remarks may be unduly influenced by my experiences in south Belfast, I believe that the issue will raise its head in the north, east and west of the city before long. Farther down the road, provincial towns will be equally affected. There is a host of statistics, graphs and projections, but these mean little to the individual or family without a home or roof over its head. People who need a starter home do not know where to begin to find it.
I shall very simply relate my experience of my own neighbourhood. Around the Ormeau health centre, where I have worked for 21 years, the cheapest starter homes went six years ago for between £10,000 and £15,000. It seems crazy by today’s standards, for these same houses now sell for between £110,000 and £115,000. There may have been special circumstances, and prices may have been badly deflated because of social unrest and other aspects of our troubles at the time. Nevertheless, six years ago, people of very humble, limited means were able to secure a roof over their heads. Today that is not possible unless one has an income between £25,000 and £30,000 — something very few people have. Every time house prices rise by £1,000, more people fall through the affordability floor for starter homes.
As I said earlier, we have the beginnings of a housing crisis. How it pans out in the long term depends on how we handle it from here. We must use very mechanism available to us to support home ownership and provide value-for-money rented accommodation.
In too many cases of purchasing starter homes, the mortgages are too tight for the salaries being earned. Given the cost of housing, we are rapidly moving towards lifelong mortgages — perhaps spread over 30, 35 or 40 years — instead of 20-year mortgages. Lenders were burnt by negative equity in the south-east of England 10 years ago. Lending is tight, but it is tightest at the bottom end of the market. It is not too difficult, once one is on the ladder, to move up or sideways or to change areas because one has a stake in the market. The great difficulty is for those who are not on the bottom rung. Lenders will normally allow three times one’s salary plus one’s spouse’s salary once. To get a starter home now needs a basic salary of around £25,000. Far too many people do not come near these salary levels.
There are schemes for supporting low-cost home ownership. The Minister needs to instruct his Department to carry out the necessary research and to revamp some of these schemes. For too long — certainly over my lifetime — the Housing Executive has baled everybody out. It has been a tremendous success over the past 30 years. However, its budget has been squeezed, and it is no longer the organisation that it was. It no longer has the money, the stock of houses or the clout necessary to provide homes.
Members could look at a whole array of issues, aside from the private sector. We could look at increasing the Housing Executive’s housing stock and the public and private rental sectors. We may want to generate private rental housing or create social landlords so that houses can be rented — not necessarily from the Housing Executive. The rising cost of land and sites is pushing up house prices. It is not the cost of cement, mortar, wood or glass. The cost of a site has increased tenfold in the last few years.
Equally, we must look at the implications and impact of the sale of around 80,000 Housing Executive houses in the last number of years. We need to consider the impact of that on housing and housing conditions and whether it was a good or bad thing. I am not sure, but I know that those who were able to buy a home at a discount from the Housing Executive felt good about it.
However, I am not sure what impact the reduction has had on the housing stock and deprivation or about the knock-on effect on those who do not have a home. Only the best houses were sold, leaving the Housing Executive with its worst houses in the worst areas and in the most difficult circumstances.
The Minister and his Department should also look at the whole array of part-purchase/part-rent schemes. There is opportunity for tremendous development there, as the schemes contain an array of strategies.
There is conventional shared ownership that allows people partly to buy and partly to rent a home. The main stake or share of the home rests with a social landlord such as the Housing Executive or a housing association. Over time, people may increase the share of their ownership as their circumstances improve. There is also a do-it-yourself shared ownership system that lets people select a home on the private market and then part own and part rent it with a landlord taking a similar stake in it.
The Home Buy scheme that exists in the United Kingdom allows people to buy homes with a low-cost loan, which is repayable when the house is sold. For example, if somebody lends you 25% of the cost of your house, he will get 25% of its price when you sell it.
The cash incentive scheme has worked very well in the South of Ireland. Local authorities offer cash to tenants to help them to buy into the private market. I am not up to date with the scheme, but I am aware that there are grants of £3,000, £4,000 or £5,000 available to first-time buyers.
There is an array of schemes that we need to explore. My point in moving this motion this morning is that we have become a bit complacent. There is more that we might be able to do, and perhaps we should start thinking about it now. Certainly the Executive, drawn from the Assembly, should do all in its power to provide extra support for people on the threshold of homeownership. We should be doing what we can to reduce the barriers that exist for people at the bottom rung of the ladder and help them secure a mortgage and support them in repaying the mortgage interest when they fall into difficulties. I am not suggesting that we do that on a grand scale; I am suggesting that we give them critical support.
We have to be looking constantly for ways to improve the quality of housing. My particular interest in the Assembly is on the enterprise, trade and investment side. It strikes me that if we do not have homes for people in the city of Belfast, we do not need jobs because people will not be able to afford to live there. The economic developments that are coming, such as call centres, are not paying £30,000 per year to enable people to afford their homes. We will end up with the economy going very well, but no houses for people to live in. People will then have to live 20 or 30 miles away, causing a two-or three-hour traffic gridlock in the mornings and evenings as people try to get to and from home.
There are other aspects of this issue that I could discuss, but I know that others wish to comment. I urge the Minister to set up a task force to get the necessary wheels in motion and produce some quality research on what is affordable. There is some excellent research available in both the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic. I recommend the NESF report number 18 ‘Social and Affordable Housing and Accommodation: Building the Future’. There is an array of publications and reports in the United Kingdom and, although many of them are written from the perspective of the mortgage lender in the United Kingdom, there is still a lot of information there.
There are key aspects of the research that I want dealt with — for example, an assessment of where we have an affordability problem. Is it just a localised issue in parts of Belfast or is it becoming a more widespread phenomenon?
To what extent is land availability driving prices upwards? How successful has co-ownership been in addressing the issue of affordability? As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of co-ownership schemes as well as 80,000 dwellings that previously belonged to the Housing Executive. What has happened to these houses? Have the people who bought them been able to secure them? Are they contributing to housing needs?
Research should also focus on the impact of the private-apartment market. In Laganside this is largely investment driven, and that has an impact on house prices. A lot of the apartments that have been developed in Laganside are lying vacant. It is cheaper and easier for the owners to buy them, leave them sitting and allow capital gains to bring them profit rather than rent them out.
There are a number of other important issues in terms of macroeconomics. What are the elements? Is the lowest income bracket too low? Are our interest rates too high? Is this an unemployment issue? Is this issue critical for those who are unemployed rather than for those who are on a low wage?
There is also the debate about green-field and brown-field sites. I do not wish to pre-empt decisions, but we had a debate yesterday about the shipyard and its implications. Some land that has not been used for shipbuilding has now been made available. Titanic Park and the Odyssey project have been developed as well as some housing near to the Odyssey project. Is there an opportunity for social housing to be developed on some of the released shipyard land? We also need to consider what the impact of that would be on inner east Belfast.
Last, but not least, it is time for our research to take a strategic view of the long-term role of the Housing Executive. What do we expect this organisation to be doing in the next 10-to 15 years
In summary, I urge the Minister to establish a research team as quickly as possible to investigate these critical issues. We need to ensure that problems are tackled from every angle. Perhaps it is possible to consider longer and slightly cheaper mortgages. We also need to consider whether it would be reasonable to give grants to enable first-time buyers to get on to the home-ownership ladder. It may be possible to review the whole strategy, purpose, sense of direction and focus of the Housing Executive and its impact on the rest of the sector. The private-rented sector may have a contribution to make. Again, the matter of brown-field development is crucial. I hope that Belfast can move north and east, rather than south and west. It is a mistake to overdevelop places such as Dunmurry, Carryduff, Dundonald, and Newtownabbey.
Mr Speaker, it would be selfish of me to go on and abuse your good will and the good will of my Colleagues here. I have done my best to open up an issue that is not yet critical but which may become critical. It is a cross-cutting issue affecting health and economic development, and it is also important for decency, equality and social justice. I urge the Minister to deal with some of the issues that I have raised and hope that he will.
John Gorman (UUP, North Down)
I totally agree with what we have just heard from Dr McDonnell.
It was a most interesting analysis of the situation. As I am sure Members know, I was the chief executive and vice chairman of the Housing Executive for seven years. Dr McDonnell mentioned — rather flatteringly, as, needless to say, one always takes the credit for oneself (or some people do, like me, I am afraid) — that the Housing Executive is one of the Province’s success stories. Every statistic that one reads validates that statement. To an extent, we are the victims of our success, and there are two points which emerged from what Dr McDonnell said that I would like to emphasise.
The first is that the quality of our housing stock has gone up immeasurably since the days when housing was the prerogative of councils. Without going back into ancient history, I do not think that anyone could deny that. My second point is that for years the building societies, and in later times the banks, had a self-imposed prohibition on lending in certain areas of the Province. This was called red-lining — a dastardly practice, which meant that mortgages were not made available on property in certain parts of the Province. The leaders got together to ensure that they did not make what they thought might be risky loans.
We broke that down. We called all those building societies together in London and told them that that was a dreadful practice, which, apart from anything else, was sectarian. It was thoroughly against all proper administrative practices. They were asked to please bring it to an end, and they did. The head men were ashamed that such a practice was going on here. Inevitably, that led to a huge demand for mortgages. Housing associations were set up and did a very good job, and the 17 building societies trading in Northern Ireland, such as the Abbey National and the Nationwide, were enabled by an increased allocation of funds from their head offices, mostly in England, to catch up with the drought of mortgages which had been self-inflicted.
That led to Northern Ireland’s having the highest proportion of home ownership in the whole of the United Kingdom. I to believe that that is a beneficial thing. It provides a great deal of stability. When was the last time anyone heard the Housing Executive being publicly criticised as a result of one of its allocations? Certainly, no cases have been brought before any part of the judicial system. The Housing Executive has done a great job, not only in building good houses, but in allocating them fairly. I trust that the new arrangements that the Minister is bringing about shortly — I think he has a Green Paper in mind — will be equally satisfactory as regards allocation.
I warn, however, that this is not easy. In this little country of ours, there can be some jobbery going on to secure — as I believe occurred more than a few years ago — a housing allocation which might not be exactly merited on points. It is very important to see that that is corrected.
Billy Hutchinson (PUP, Belfast North)
Does the Member agree that no housing association has appeared before the judiciary in relation to a housing allocation?
John Gorman (UUP, North Down)
Yes, of course I agree. I am simply saying that sometimes what is taken for granted as being a good, solid, fair system can become corrupted. I am warning that that is a danger.
Several things have happened. The Housing Executive has been denied the right to build those houses that were so attractive in the market because it is unable to lay claim to any part of the lending ability of building societies and banks. Due to what I consider a stupid rule, the Housing Executive, being part of the Government system, has to take account of the public- sector lending and borrowing requirements, and it is not able to go outside to borrow money and obtain funding from the private sector. I suggest to the Minister that it would take the change of one word — a change from "Executive" to "Association". Of course, that would necessitate literally pages and pages of renaming — it is really not just as easy as that.
If there were an organisation called the Northern Ireland Housing Association, it might be able to provide funding for the Housing Executive. In the 1980s building societies and banks lent enormous sums to the Housing Executive, which I was running. For example, Abbey National plc allocated £100 million to its regional manager, and it was only one of 19 associations that were trading. I have explained the background to this. The Nationwide Building Society gave a similar sum. It was not lent to the Housing Executive directly, but it was made available to help private citizens to get mortgages. But they also provided — for example, within that sum of £100 million — sums which were allocated to the rehabilitation, rebuilding and modernising of whole estates. Not only was it a good investment to get the Housing Executive to do it, those houses became more valuable as well.
These are matters that I hope will be dealt with very firmly and quickly. I hope that we will get decisions rather than just the setting-up of a Committee or two, because this is a serious problem that the economy has created. It is no one’s fault, although if you were a demonstrator against Capitalism you would say that this is all that Capitalism does. But with all that we have to tackle here, I do not wish to get into questions of Socialism, Capitalism, and so on.
It is necessary to follow some of Dr McDonnell’s thoughts to see what can be done to make housing more affordable for those who are in the lowest quartile of the economy — employees with low incomes. Unless we do that, we are going to find that there is an elitist attitude about those houses that were formerly Housing Executive houses, some which are still being rented.
A factor that also creates a good lending situation by the private sector is the quality of our people. Generally, owners who are mortgage payers look after their homes; they are proud of their homes. Tenants are also proud of the homes that they rent. If you were to go around the Province today you would see that. In my years of running the Housing Executive, every Minister was saying to me "What is your problem with housing? Look at those lovely houses in Downpatrick, in Banbridge. Look at those lovely estates all over Poleglass — they are a model." I used to reply "You are only seeing the show houses that are replacing the dreadful ones which those people have moved from." But people look after them; they are proud them. The fact that people are now proud of the houses they live in must make a huge contribution to the way in which they live. The head of the household has some authority over those who live with him because he is the one paying the rent; he is the one who is in charge.
As Dr McDonnell said, all of these things have a social benefit that we can be proud of. That has created a very fine reputation for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and, indeed, the private landlords.
Sammy Wilson (DUP, Belfast East)
I congratulate Dr McDonnell on bringing this issue before the Assembly. I do not want to go into the background to this problem, but we are all aware of the pressures that our constituents are facing, especially those starting off on the housing ladder. The statistics bear that out. House prices increased by 8·3% across the Province in the first quarter of this year. However, as Dr McDonnell said, that increase does not apply Province-wide. House prices increased by 1·3% in areas such as Fermanagh and south Tyrone and by 18% in Craigavon, Armagh and parts of Belfast.
This is indicative of what is happening for first-time buyers. They are now paying, on average, £58,000, and 13·8% of their income goes on housing costs. When the Housing Executive set rents in the regulated sector it reckoned that approximately 10·2% of an average income was a reasonable figure. People who wish to become homeowners are finding that the burden of homeownership is much more significant than it ought to be if we take the kind of benchmark used in the public housing sector.
Therefore there is a problem, and it has hit hardest in the areas — and I am speaking from a Belfast experience — where people traditionally would have gone as first-time homebuyers. In the area in which I live you could have bought a house for £16,000 three years ago. Now you would be lucky to get one for less than £50,000. That was the area where most people came to start house buying, but those doors are closed to many people now.
At the same time the number of houses being built for rent in the public sector has dropped significantly. Statistics that I looked at this morning showed that 3,200 houses were built for rental 15 years ago. Last year the figure was less than half of that, so there is not even the safety valve that there used to be for people who could not get a house to purchase. Fifteen years ago they could at least have gone into the public rented sector.
We have to look at the reasons for this before we can look at possible policies. There is no doubt that as in any area of the world that experiences sustained economic growth, there is going to be a consequence for Northern Ireland. Economic growth is not something for which there is no price to pay. Some people will pay a price. Whether it is in the south-east of England or Northern Ireland, economic growth tends to push up the demand for land for different reasons — for example, homes are needed because workers are moving into this area — and, therefore, the price of houses. The simple law of economics tells us that. I hope that we do not take the view that public policy can resolve all of these problems. I am not sure that it can.
There are conflicts with an objective to create more employment and, thus, better income conditions because of the effect it will have on house prices. The second thing is — and Dr McDonnell referred to this, although he probably knows about it from personal experience — the price of land for housing. I am sure he has felt the ire of the Malone Road Residents’ Association as a result of his involvement in selling some land which went for apartment development. I am making this as a side comment simply because it illustrates the problem. I do not fault people who own property; I do not fault them for selling it, getting a good price for it and making a profit. However, the consequence of that is that if somebody is paying £400,000 for a piece of land, as opposed to £200,000, the price of the properties which go on that land is going to be higher.
I do not think it is possible for public policy to interfere with the market, nor do I think it would be correct for public policy to interfere with the market to the extent that people who own property are told "You cannot sell this for more than a certain amount". But if you take that hands-off approach, there will be consequences.
Another reason is that the interest rates in the Irish Republic are now negative in real terms because it is involved with the Euro and the European Central Bank now controls interest rates. Although the economy there is booming, the two strongest economies in Europe are not; they want to have low interest rates, and because the Irish Republic is tied to that, money can be borrowed at negative rates of interest. If you want a case study on why the single currency cannot work and why more economic integration in Europe cannot work, just look at the conflict between European economic and monetary policy and what is happening in the Republic, and this has spillover effects for us.
Dr McDonnell mentioned what was happening in Laganside. A great deal of the property inflation there is driven by money coming from the Republic and finding a home in Northern Ireland. Speculators are operating on the basis that property prices here are still low enough for them to make money.
The other problem is that, rightly or wrongly, there have been restrictions on land releases, especially in the Greater Belfast area. Until we sort out planning policy for the metropolitan area, we are going to have to live with the consequences. There were many reasons for that, and the important thing is that public policy cannot deal with all of them.
Dr McDonnell also mentioned task forces — we seem to be setting task forces up for everything, and I am wary about doing that. Many of the schemes which he mentioned in his speech are nothing to do with the Department for Social Development. They are financial schemes, and it is up to the banks, the mortgage lenders and the building societies to deal with them. There are some policies that the Department for Social Development, the Department for Regional Development and the Department of the Environment could look at. People will have to accept, whether they like it or not, that a sizeable proportion of people will not be able to afford to get on the housing ladder, so we must look at the number of houses which are being built for rent. We cannot get away from that. Should we take up Sir John Gorman’s suggestion and allow the Housing Executive to get back into the house-building market? The law could be changed to allow it to borrow also. Those are matters that we have to look at.
Secondly, in Northern Ireland there are presently 25,000 houses in the public sector which are vacant and unfit for habitation, and in the private rented sector there are as many again which are vacant and fit for habitation, but for whatever reason have not been let. There are various schemes — self-help schemes and the work of Habitat community — aiming at bringing these houses back in to use. There is a sizeable stock there, which we need to find a way of mobilising. I am sure that all of us, during our constituency work, have found landlords who hold on to privately owned houses, will not rent them out and allow them to go to rack and ruin. I do not know how many houses in the private sector fall into that category. Certainly if there were greater powers for those houses to be taken over, either by housing associations or by the Housing Executive, and to be brought back into use, it would deal, first, with the social problem for those who live beside them — very often they are used as glue-sniffing dens, and so on — and, secondly, with the housing problem. We have to look at the vesting powers which are available to do that, but there must also be the will to do that.
Thirdly, and I have found this in my area, where the Housing Executive, or any public body, makes a swath of land available for house building, part of that should be set aside for affordable housing. Whether that is reflected in the price which a purchaser pays for it, or whether it is reflected in the services which are put on the site, free of charge, by some public body, I do not really care. When there was redevelopment in my area, many homeowners were going to lose their houses. We persuaded the Housing Executive, where the new houses were being built, to set aside part of two sites. The developer who took those sites for private development had to build houses at a ceiling of £40,000. Those were then made available to people who were being displaced in the redevelopment area. Schemes such as that — and they may well be costly — help to alleviate the problems of displaced people in redevelopment areas and also provide some affordable housing. Of course, the big benefit is that you then get a social mix.
The irony of what is happening in Belfast is that the inner city that used to be a public-sector housing ghetto is now becoming a yuppie land. There has been a total reversal. Either of those two imbalances, I believe, happen to be bad socially.
John (Speaker, Belfast East)
May I ask the Member to bring his remarks to a close. A number of other Members wish to contribute to the debate.
Sammy Wilson (DUP, Belfast East)
My final point is about planning issues. Planners ought to think more when they are granting planning permission; this is the Department for Regional Development’s responsibility. They ought to lay down certain conditions as to the mix of houses. If, for example, you are going to approve greenfield applications, there ought to be conditions attached which say that the site is to be used for affordable housing.
Those are some of the things which can be done as far as public policy is concerned. Alasdair McDonnell’s speech demonstrated that there is no easy answer to the problem, but we must chip away at it to ensure that home ownership is not just a dream for some people in our society.
Michelle Gildernew (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)
Go raibh maith agat. I also welcome the debate today on the availability of affordable housing, given the close relationship between the quality of the homes we live in and our health and general well-being. However, the lack of social housing should be the central concern in this debate, because this has lead to the crisis in the housing market.
Successive British Governments have systematically reduced public expenditure on housing. This, coupled with the mass sell-off of more than 80,000 Housing Executive dwellings, has left us in the situation we are in today.
While we welcome the opportunity given to tenants to purchase their homes, we stress the need to replace these homes. For many people buying a home is not a feasible option, and a quantity of good-quality social housing will always be required.
The lack of new starts in the social housing program should be our main concern. We cannot focus exclusively on affordable private new builds unless we address the crisis facing the social housing market, a crisis that will only worsen in the future if the proposed rent increases go ahead. Higher rents will mean that people who can buy their homes will do so and reduce the amount of social housing available. This will push up waiting lists, especially in Derry and Belfast. It is already difficult for the unemployed to buy a home, given that they cannot get mortgages, so they will be relying on an increasingly depleted social housing stock.
A University of Ulster study estimated that in the past 10 years a shortfall of 5,000 social housing units has built up. We need at least 2,100 new units to be built per annum, and that excludes the shortfall that already exists. The waiting list for social housing has risen dramatically, and the number of applicants in urgent need has increased by 27% since 1990.
We also need investment in the improvement programme, an allocation of funds to plan comprehensive maintenance and to eradicate levels of unfitness. There are still unacceptably high levels of unfitness in the Housing Executive stock, especially in rural areas and worst of all in my constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone. There is still a high correlation between age and unfitness, again especially in rural areas, and there has been no reduction in the urban unfitness that has been caused by stock getting older and needing more maintenance. Many houses still have no central heating, something that most of us take for granted.
In the areas of greatest need, such as west and north Belfast, there is a problem which has not been tackled by either the Housing Executive or the housing associations — territorial claims to land and houses on the Unionist side of the peace wall. The situation is one that defies belief. Homes are being pulled down one side because of lack of demand while on the other side families can wait for up to three years for a home. This, coupled with large tracts of derelict land such as the Girdwood Barracks site, which would be ideal for development results in unacceptable levels of overcrowding and long waiting lists.
Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 placed new duties on the Housing Executive to promote equality of opportunity and good community relations and to put the equality issue at the centre of policy making. Surely the Nationalist community in north Belfast is entitled to equality of access to housing. Targeting social need obligations should surely be the deciding factor here, not fear of losing territory. I was interested to hear Sammy Wilson say that he did not want to go into history. Given the discrimination of the past, if the problem of accessible housing is not tackled now, Catholics will again be forced to take action as my family did in Caledon more than 30 years ago.
Homelessness is also a major cause for concern. According to Shelter, some 30,000 people in the Six Counties are without a home. Homelessness is rising rapidly, particularly among people aged between 16 and 25. Current estimates reveal that 50% of all single homeless people are under 25 years of age, and 20% are aged 18 and under. This is totally unacceptable, and we are going to have to deal with this matter properly in order to reduce the number of homeless people drastically. We need to set up a forum to bring together the Housing Executive, housing associations and interested bodies such as the Simon Community and Shelter to deal with this problem in an intelligent and imaginative manner. Surely these statistics prove that the island of 100,000 welcomes is becoming more and more a thing of the past.
Given the strong relationship between the housing market and the overall economy of the Six Counties, and after the failure of successive British Governments to finance the housing programme adequately, relying as they did on private sector activities, we now have a chance to put local alternatives in place. We have to get it right. We must be driven bytargeting social need and the equality agenda, and new-build schemes should, therefore, be based on assessed needs rather than financial constraints.
In this way unfitness, homelessness and overcrowding can be eradicated and affordable housing can be made accessible to all. Go raibh míle maith agat.
Norman Boyd (NIUP, South Antrim)
According to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s Annual Report, there are 44,000 unfit properties across Northern Ireland, with a large number in rural areas. There are currently 14,000 Housing Executive homes with no central heating, while 10,000 houses need major improvements to modernise them. Some 23,000 people are still waiting to be allocated a Housing Executive property, and more than half of these are in urgent need of housing. Northern Ireland’s ageing population is another key factor. Over the past four years the number of elderly and disabled people needing adaptations has risen from 600 to 2,000.
Every citizen in Northern Ireland has the right to a decent roof over his or her head. It is rather disappointing that we have heard today from one quarter about one particular section of the community. Housing needs exist right across the board and everywhere suffers, including many working-class Protestant areas. Housing is one of the most important issues that elected representatives are called on to deal with in their constituencies. There is a need to be proactive and to allocate the necessary resources to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s district offices to enable necessary repairs to be carried out on unoccupied properties, allowing them to be allocated to tenants. There are far too many blocked-up properties that should be repaired as a priority or demolished. For example, in my constituency of South Antrim there are blocked up properties in parts of Newtownabbey, Ballyclare and Antrim that are still waiting, after several years, for. This is due to the lack of funding. These properties could otherwise have been allocated to tenants. The process for demolition and repairs is unacceptably long, and more authority needs to be delegated to the local district managers so that delays can be avoided.
In 1998, in a part of New Mossley in Newtownabbey, we lobbied and were able to arrange a visit by senior officials from the Housing Executive. They were able to see for themselves the chronic conditions that tenants had to endure because of the large number of unoccupied properties that were due to be demolished. This was only achieved after a long-drawn-out bureaucratic process. On the day of the visit, water was gushing down from burst pipes. The properties had not been secured, yet people were expected to live beside them. Examples such as this can be found throughout Northern Ireland.
The recent Housing Executive announcement about cutbacks in its housing budget is worrying. It is therefore critical to reduce the amount of bureaucracy surrounding demolition, repair, improvements and the allocation of grants.
It is totally unacceptable for some quarters to suggest a rent increase of 2% above inflation. This cannot be justified when so many properties are in need of repairs and improvements. The people who would be most affected by a large rent increase are those on low incomes. We have a moral obligation to protect those who are less well off in society, and I would support a rent freeze until a housing review has been completed. Rents have already gone above the rate of inflation in the past few years while funding allocated to the Housing Executive has been reduced. It is wrong to expect tenants, particularly when so many are on low incomes, to continue to make up the shortfall through spiralling rent increases. There is an ongoing requirement for 2,100 units of social housing per annum to ensure that the level of urgent need does not increase.
There continues to be an ongoing need for investment at current levels in the improvement programme to enable it to be completed over the next five years. There is also an increasing need for funding to meet the rising demand for adaptations for people with disabilities. The housing budget must not be reduced further, as any decline in housing standards will have a direct and adverse effect on the level of health care, with further strains being put on that budget allocation.
Waiting lists for housing continue to grow considerably, with the number of applicants at March 1999 totalling 23,000. Of the waiting list total, 41% are single people and 22% are elderly people — a total of 63%. I visited the Simon Community unit in Larne two weeks ago, and was concerned to learn that the number of people presenting themselves to the charity as homeless had risen from 3,800 to over 4,000 in the past year. The majority were aged 25 and under. It is particularly worrying that the proportion of 16-to 18-year-olds reporting as homeless is at an all-time high.
In Northern Ireland there is a shortage of suitable, affordable and accessible accommodation, and this needs to be addressed urgently. Owner occupation in Northern Ireland currently stands at 70%. House prices here are rising by approximately 8% per annum, and many areas in Northern Ireland are now on a par with several regions in the rest of the United Kingdom.
However, the average wage in Northern Ireland is approximately £2,000 less than the UK average. An increasing number of home owners are falling behind with their payments because of spiralling house prices. The number of writs and summonses issued for mortgage arrears has increased by almost 50% between 1997 and 1998. Many first-time buyers are now struggling to get on the house-buying ladder. With more than 100 lenders offering some 4,000 mortgage products, many buyers are attracted by low interest rates and "cashbacks" in the first few years of the mortgage, only to be hit later by large monthly payment increases, which many cannot afford to meet.
Legislation must be strengthened to raise awareness of consumers’ rights. Solicitors’ costs, for example, must be brought into line with those in the rest of the United Kingdom. Increased advertising of codes of practice will help consumer awareness. Much legislation is already in place, such as the Estate Agents Act 1979 and the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991. There is also an ombudsman and a code of practice for lenders. However, only a relatively small number of people actually seek legal redress. For example, the Estate Agents Act requires that estate agents indicate their fees in writing before accepting instructions. However, in a recent survey by the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, 11% of people selling their homes said that they did not receive any quotes, and only 59% said that they had received written quotes. It is clear that legal obligations are not always being enforced, and this must be addressed.
Many issues relating to housing matters are being raised today, and I share the concern at the growing crisis regarding the availability of affordable housing. I therefore support the motion.
John Tierney (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)
I support the motion, and I commend Alasdair McDonnell for bringing it before the House. In the Social Development Committee’s discussions, this matter has taken up more time than most other issues because of its urgency and the needs that exist in different areas. It is also an ongoing topic for discussion and debate in most council chambers. For the past couple of years councils in my constituency of Foyle have been saying that there is a crisis situation.
I believe that the way to achieve affordable social housing is to give proper funding to the Housing Executive. The Minister addressed the last meeting of our Committee, and I know that he shares our views and has given the matter a high priority. We welcome that. The former Minister also gave it a high priority.
One of the problems in Foyle is that there has been a waiting list of 1,600 for over 10 years. The money allocated to the Housing Executive and to housing associations is not even making a dent in that. If we continue with the current budget, then it will continue not to make a dent. We have to look at this issue more seriously, as the proposer of the motion has said, and make the proper funding available.
The last announcement concerning the housing budget, and the cuts, was condemned by my Committee, and it asked for the budget to be increased. It was then told that there would be an increase, but the increase was on the Scheme for the Purchase of Evacuated Dwellings (SPED) and adaptations. Although that was welcomed and unanimously supported by the Committee, it could be argued that the money allocated to SPED should come directly from the Northern Ireland Office and not from the Housing Executive budget. I am delighted that the Minister agreed with the Committee and said, in relation to the recent problems on the Shankill Road, that he would be making the case that the money should come directly from the Northern Ireland Office and should not eat into the housing budget.
As for the adaptations, an argument could be made that this money should come out of the health budget, because adaptations are carried out on medical advice and for the disabled.
In the Derry area, the number of houses that have been sold to Housing Executive tenants has increased. However, as my Colleague Mr Danny O’Connor pointed out at a Committee meeting, we are getting to the stage where that will slowly but surely stop, and the reason is that the remaining housing stock is in such poor condition that it is impossible to imagine anyone purchasing it. If enough money and grants were to be made available for the refurbishment of these houses to the proper standard, people would then have the chance of buying their own homes.
For a number of years we have been fighting to try to get the Housing Executive in Derry to spend money on refurbishment in the worst parts of the Foyle area. A refurbishment scheme was recently carried out in the Bogside, and it was widely welcomed, but we fought for it for 10 years. I raise this matter because I firmly believe that the longer refurbishment is postponed, the more it will cost in the long run.
During the course of an Adjournment debate I highlighted an example of the problems we face in the Foyle area. Homeless people and one-parent families are presenting themselves to the Housing Executive and being told that it could be up to a year and a half before they can be housed, and in some cases there is no accommodation at all for them and they have to depend on friends and relatives to put them up. This is totally unacceptable, and unless we tackle the new-build situation, and tackle it quickly, the problem will increase.
In my area, if you were to present yourself to the Housing Executive as a normal applicant, the Housing Executive, if it was being honest, would tell you that unless you had priority status or were an A1 homeless person, they would probably not even consider you.
I believe that the way to provide affordable social housing is to give proper funding to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and to the housing associations, so that they can get on with the new build. That, in turn, will solve the problem. I accept what the proposer said — there is a role for the private sector. Dr McDonnell made a number of points, some of which have not yet been discussed by the Committee, and we will consider them.
Various organisations have suggested a number of schemes in an attempt to get affordable, social housing. You have to congratulate them on their efforts. However, we now have to re-examine those schemes, as Dr McDonnell says, to see if there is a better scheme for affordable social housing.
Finally, I make the point again that I am convinced that the way to get affordable and proper social housing is to give appropriate funding to the Housing Executive and to the housing associations, which I know the Minister totally supports. I welcome the debate and the points coming to the Committee from the proposer.
Jim Shannon (DUP, Strangford)
This is an issue that confronts us all the time in our advice centres. I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on the matter and to highlight some of our concerns as elective representatives.
For many years property prices in Northern Ireland have remained a fraction of those in other parts of the United Kingdom. This has meant that it has been relatively easy for individuals and families to safely secure the style and quality of housing which they have sought over the years. While this resulted in the standard of living being substantially higher than on the mainland, it also created the false image, which has come home to roost today, that Northern Ireland was a relatively wealthy country. It was an image which I dare say was going to be exposed at some time. Perhaps this housing debate is an opportunity to expose it.
This phenomenon has been manifested through the frightening rise in house prices throughout Northern Ireland over a number of years. Some Members have spoken about the price increases and the amount of money it now costs to buy a house in Northern Ireland. The issue has been well illustrated. House prices are twice as high as they were 10 years ago. In some cases they are even higher.
In the same period the average wage has not seen the same increase, and one does not need to be an accountant to work out that the sums will not add up in today’s Northern Ireland. Events in the property market mean that many people face great hardship in buying a house. Ten years ago it would not have been a problem. Some people today cannot afford to purchase a house at all.
This has had a number of serious social and economic implications for society. First, the standard of living has fallen, and it will continue to do so when so much of a person’s income is tied up in paying for a house. Secondly, the amount of debt has increased for those who have purchased property in the past five years, and I suspect that trend will continue. This in turn has put more personal pressure on individuals and families with restricted free cash. Recently, a survey was carried out across the country illustrating young people’s concerns about the cost of buying a house. The majority of respondents stated they were worried that they would not be able to survive financially if they were to buy a house, and that they would be robbed of their social lives.
Life is not just about paying the mortgage. Life has to be a little bit more than that, and I think we have to look at the wider picture as well. At one time, young people dreamed of buying their own house, setting up their own home, and becoming independent. Today’s house prices severely restrict the ability of the young — especially first-time buyers — to make the move out of the family home. More and more young people remain in the family home and it is not uncommon for people in their late twenties and early thirties to live in their parents’ house.
On a broader social issue, the ongoing rise in house prices threatens to disrupt the distribution of wealth among the local population. In the past, society in Northern Ireland has been very egalitarian. There have not been the areas of extreme poverty, or extreme wealth, found in countries such as the Republic of Ireland, Brazil and South Africa. While we do not have slums like those in Dublin, there are many areas of social deprivation across the Province.
For example, Strangford has undergone a 10.9 per cent rise in house prices. It is assumed that this is an indicator of an affluent area, but that is not necessarily the case. There are also large pockets of need. Many people cannot and, perhaps never will be able to, buy their own houses.
Deprivation is not exclusive to one side of the community. It is as widespread in our community, among the people of Ards borough and the Strangford constituency, as it is in other areas of the Province. We share the same problems, including single parents, large families, unemployment, lack of job prospects, low levels of car ownership and dependency on benefits. These difficulties are not exclusive to us but extend across the community. We all represent areas with these problems. I am aggrieved that some representatives think that only one part of the community has been subject to these factors. The Protestant or Unionist community has been subject to these problems in the same way as other parts of the community have. Other Members can agree to that.
Deprivation exists in estates in Ards town and in the villages of the Ards peninsula, where people have little or no prospects and cannot get houses. These are important issues. Combating deprivation and preventing its growth should be the primary concern of any legislator. Northern Ireland is no different from anywhere else. We must do everything we can to ensure that housing remains within the grasp of everyone if we are to prevent the gap between rich and poor from growing to the same degree as it has done among our neighbours in the South.
I will highlight a point about greenfield sites that was mentioned earlier by a Member. When land becomes available, large developers usually buy the sites. Housing associations also want to buy the land but they are outbid. Land is being provided only for those who wish to buy houses and not for people who want to live in rented accommodation or social housing. Provision must be made to alleviate this. The members of Ards Borough Council, including myself, are among the many who have lobbied to ensure that land is set aside for these purposes in all future developments. It is not enough to provide housing for those who can afford it; there must be housing for those who cannot afford it, that is where social housing plays its part. Failure to provide housing for everyone will inevitably have negative implications throughout society, creating the associated unsociable behaviour that is directly linked to social deprivation.
The future health of society in Northern Ireland does not rest solely with the Minister for Social Development, but I urge the Minister to play his part and to do what he can to address the situation. Today’s motion is timely for Northern Ireland.
John Kelly (Sinn Féin, Mid Ulster)
Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I look back with some nostalgia, Cheann Comhairle, to a time when the provision of affordable housing was one of the underlying tenets of any political party that aspired to the name "socialist". Housing, health and education were the three disciples of the socialism I remember. The erosion of affordable housing did not happen overnight. It has happened in tandem with the erosion of the idea that Governments have a responsibility to the people they govern. In spite of its faults, socialism did not forget the governed people until the advent of New Labour.
The Government should provide affordable housing because it is a fundamental human right. When housing is not affordable, the effects are obvious. We can see what happens to young people who cannot afford a starter home, who are strapped for finance, who are not in safe employment and who have to burden themselves at the start of their new lives with a mortgage that is perhaps not payable. Building societies, banks and the rates of interest they charge must be examined, and the length of time it takes before a borrower can erode the rates charged for a fundamental thing like buying a home must also be looked at. After 20 years a borrower will perhaps still owe three quarters of the amount borrowed in the first place.
We talk about moneylenders with disdain, but building societies and banks are in many ways such great abusers of the moneylending system that they make it respectable. Interest is one important aspect; in particular, we should look at how it is charged and for how long.
The Housing Executive played a very honourable role in providing affordable housing. The erosion of that role is to be regretted. We see the housing associations attempting to take up the slack. However, in many ways these associations are another facet of private enterprise, and they cannot replace the social input of the Housing Executive and provide homes for those who can least afford them. The Housing Executive also gave people an opportunity to buy their homes if after five or 10 years they wanted to. Earlier, I began to wonder what world Sir John Gorman is living in. It is very good to have the kind of old-fashioned ideas that he has, but they are not relevant to the present situation. Let me reiterate. The Housing Executive’s role is to provide homes that people can buy at a realistic price after five or 10 years. This is something that society needs, and while the Housing Executive meets that need, the housing associations do not.
Billy Hutchinson (PUP, Belfast North)
Under the right to buy, housing association tenants have the same rights as Housing Executive tenants. That is laid down in legislation from Westminster. There is confusion about the role of the housing associations; their role is to provide social housing for people who cannot afford to buy houses. We in the Social Development Committee need to provide Members with precise information. The housing associations are coming to talk to the Committee, and people need to examine this in great detail.
The rents of the Housing Executive and the housing associations are based on the same criteria. They are monitored by the Department and not by the Housing Executive. The Housing Executive will probably take on that role. We need to be careful here. Members are demonising housing associations, which have done an excellent job for the past 25 years, for the wrong reasons.
John Kelly (Sinn Féin, Mid Ulster)
I was not trying to demonise the housing associations. I am saying that housing associations cannot replace the Housing Executive, and the Government should not be using them to cop out of their responsibility for providing affordable housing for those who need it, and this is what has been happening, Cheann Comhairle. The Government have been passing the buck onto the housing associations. I agree that they have provided a very useful source of affordable housing, but they lag behind the Housing Executive in their provision of maintenance. I take on board the fact that they provide a much-needed stopgap for affordable housing. However, I still feel, Cheann Comhairle, that in the absence of any other option the Housing Executive was the best means by which the Government could provide affordable housing.
The price of land has been mentioned and this is a big factor. One just has to look at what is happening in the Twenty-six Counties, where the escalation of house prices has been beyond imagination. People are paying up to £200,000 for a three-bedroomed house in a locality where, as Sammy Wilson said, people had not previously wanted to live. Do we want to follow that example? I hope we neither want to nor have to. If someone has 20 acres and gets planning permission for building on them, then of course the value of the land escalates. In the Twenty-six Counties there has been an attempt to cap that by obliging speculators to set aside part of that land for affordable housing. We should also be looking at that.
Much has been made of the urban situation; the rural situation has been forgotten. The problem in rural areas is, perhaps, greater. Although it is not noticed as much, it impinges on small towns and villages as much as it does in places like Belfast and Derry. To that extent the planners have a responsibility. If a farmer’s son or daughter wants to build a house, it is virtually impossible to gain planning consent. He or she is forced to pay between £15,000 and £25,000 to buy a site in the towns — a sum that would not have had to be paid if it had been possible to build on the land that has been in the family for generations.
The lack of housing in rural areas, and the hardship caused by that, is something that the planners should be looking at. Demand is what drives up the price of housing, and if people are being forced from the rural areas into towns and cities, that will further drive up the price of land, and ultimately of housing, which will make it even less affordable.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive is talking about increasing rents. One hopes that that will not happen because it will put a greater hardship on those who are already suffering, those who cannot pay the present rent.
There should be a return to socialist basics and to the notion that a socialist Government has a responsibility to provide the basics of life such as housing, health and education. We have an opportunity, after the past 30 years, to take a lead. If that is idealistic, let us be idealistic, but let us at least make an attempt to ensure that housing is treated as a fundamental right and is affordable.
Séan Neeson (Alliance, East Antrim)
I intend to intervene only briefly in this important debate, and I am grateful to Dr McDonnell for raising the matter. As a public representative, housing is one of the biggest areas with which I, and other Members, have to deal. In recent years, a particular issue has been the increasing number of people who have been presenting themselves to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive as homeless.
Yesterday I referred to some of the work carried out by the Northern Ireland Forum, and housing was one of the matters that was raised by Members of the forum. We dealt with this matter at a time of transition when responsibility for construction was being passed from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to the housing associations.
Mr Billy Hutchinson intervened earlier to make mention of the good work done by the housing associations, and I agree with him, but the Northern Ireland Housing Executive was able to take advantage of greater Government subsidies for new builds while the housing associations depend on the banks for loans. The cost of building is therefore greater for the housing associations, and, as a result of that, it has been necessary to charge proportionately higher rents than those charged by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
I agree with the sentiments expressed recently by Mr Cobain about the substantial increase in rents by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
I believe it has been far above inflation. The Minister is here today, and I hope that he will listen not only to what Fred Cobain says but to what, I suggest, the vast majority of Assembly Members say — namely, that rents must be frozen.
Looking at the growing number of homeless people, I am also concerned by statistics that show quite clearly that not enough houses are being built in the public sector. In the present year, only 1,507 new houses were built by housing associations, yet over 23,000 people are on the waiting lists. How are we to deal with this problem if supply does not meet demand?
We must also recognise the new needs of a society which is undergoing great change, not only in Northern Ireland but in other parts of the British Isles and Europe. Governments — and this Assembly — should take on board the new needs of society in the twenty-first century. I made the point yesterday that, when we dealt with this issue in the Northern Ireland Forum, we had no powers. We were a mere talking shop. This Assembly has powers, and, having been elected to represent the needs of all sections of society in Northern Ireland, it must take all those needs on board.
Another major issue coming to the fore at present, particularly in the greater Belfast area, is the cost of development land and the pressures that that is putting on people, especially young couples starting off. The cost of a new home is beyond many of them, and there is a great danger that we will find ourselves in the same situation as Dublin, where people simply cannot afford to buy homes. One of the major selling points in attracting new investment to Northern Ireland is that we have lower housing costs than Dublin, in spite of the rising prices. This matter must be taken on board.
My final point is this: I have remarked on the greater Belfast area, but for me one of the biggest issues facing Northern Ireland is the state of disrepair in rural housing. I appreciate that the Housing Executive has recently put greater effort into assisting improvements to such housing, but if one looks at the various statistics issued —
John (Speaker, Belfast East)
If Members wish to have a conversation about the matter, they should do so in the Lobby.
Séan Neeson (Alliance, East Antrim)
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
As I was saying, the state of rural properties is a cause for deep concern. Despite the fact that the Housing Executive has made greater efforts in recent years to provide assistance for people living in poor conditions in rural areas, the Assembly must fully address these problems. I am sure that the Minister will take on board the proposals detailed in ‘Shaping Our Future: Towards a Strategy for the Development of the Region’.
In essence, as we plan for the future, we need to take on board the content of ‘Shaping our Future’ and the needs of urban and rural communities.
In conclusion, I thank Dr McDonnell for raising the issue and hope that the Minister takes on board the comments of Members.
12.00
John (Speaker, Belfast East)
Members have used their time extensively. Several more wished to contribute, but that will not be possible given the time allocated by the Business Committee for the debate. I must now call the Minister to wind up and the Member who moved the motion to respond.
Maurice Morrow (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)
I have listened carefully to all the points that have been raised. I found some of them difficult to follow and could be forgiven for saying that it appears that some of the Members did not read the motion. However, I will make an honest attempt to deal with the issues raised.
Since becoming Minister for Social Development I have made it abundantly clear that housing is one of my top priorities, as did my predecessor Mr Dodds. Access to a good house is not a privilege but a fundamental right, and I will do everything to achieve this goal. My role in this is primarily the provision of affordable housing in the form of social housing for rent, or providing financial assistance to those who, for one reason or another, find it difficult to get on the first step of the home ownership ladder.
I will start with social housing for rent, as this represents for many people on the margins the only way to have a home of their own. In the current financial year, around 1,700 new social houses will be built across Northern Ireland. This is a major achievement, given that funding for the building of new housing has diminished over the years to the point where it presently stands at £62 million. By involving housing associations in the new-build programme we are able to attract an additional £40 million of private finance. This has helped to cushion the programme from the worst effects of cuts in public expenditure.
I will continue to lobby for adequate funding to enable my Department to bring forward a new-build programme to meet the demands of the waiting lists. However, I am also encouraging my officials to develop innovative ways of bringing in additional funding from other sources. One such source is the Housing Executive’s land for social houses scheme. Under this arrangement the Housing Executive has sold some of its surplus land to developers for cash and allowed for a set number of social houses.
These sales account for almost half of first-time buyer transactions in Northern Ireland. The scheme helps create tenure and brings a large number of additional houses into the private market. As resale prices tend to be between 10% and 20% lower than for similar properties in private estates, it offers an alternative source of affordable housing for those who are not tenants. Many housing association tenants also have the opportunity to buy their homes. However, this is under a voluntary scheme, as housing associations do not have a statutory obligation to sell their homes. I recognise the need to create a level playing field and I therefore propose, in the forthcoming Housing Bill, to bring forward provisions which will place a statutory obligation on all associations to operate a house sales scheme. This will offer housing association tenants the same right as their counterparts in Housing Executive accommodation.
The media regularly report on the rising house prices in Northern Ireland and the difficulty this is causing for first-time buyers. Much of this has been fuelled by recent problems in the South of England and in the Republic of Ireland where house prices increased dramatically in a short time. House prices in Northern Ireland have, of course, also been rising. In recent years these increases have been considerably higher than increases in other parts of the United Kingdom. However, we must not forget that these increases started from a much lower baseline. For many years house prices in Northern Ireland were significantly lower than in the rest of the United Kingdom, so in some respects we are catching up. Affordability — that is the ratio between house prices and wages — remains healthy in Northern Ireland, and for most prospective first-time buyers home ownership still remains a viable option.
I accept that there are many who find it difficult to get onto the first rung of the home ownership ladder. It is for this reason that the Department provides grant aid to the Northern Ireland Co-ownership Housing Association, which offers participants the opportunity to part-purchase and part-rent a home. This scheme has, since its conception in 1978, enabled over 15,000 participants who might otherwise have sought accommodation in social housing to become homeowners. Its popularity continues to increase, and currently almost 600 new applicants are taken on each year with around 550 participants moving into full home ownership.
The regional development plan ‘Shaping our Future’, which is being prepared by the Department for Regional Development, informs us that in the next 15 years an estimated 160,000 new homes will be required to meet anticipated demand. It is important that this lead is properly managed so that problems like those in the Republic of Ireland, where demand started to exceed supply causing large increases in house prices, are not replicated in Northern Ireland. I will be in close liaison with my Colleague, Gregory Campbell, on this matter.
Finally, since becoming Minister for Social Development I have built up close contacts with the Council of Mortgage Lenders. As the major provider of finance to prospective homeowners, it has an important role to play. I am impressed by the way in which the financial services industry has changed over the years. More flexibility has been introduced so that packages can be tailored to meet individual needs and ever-changing circumstances. For this reason many young couples, who might have thought that home ownership was not possible for them, are now finding that finance packages are available which suit their personal situation.
I want to make sure that that continues, and one way in which I can help is by making the home-buying process easier. Buying a house can be a slow, expensive and stressful process, and there is a need to look at ways of making it less so. I am particularly interested in the idea of a seller’s information pack, as suggested in the recent report compiled by the General Consumer Council.
This idea has been the subject of a pilot study in Bristol and once that study has been evaluated, I will examine how it can be applied in Northern Ireland. In advance of this, I am examining the potential for implementing some of the other measures. My officials will be in contact with their counterparts in other Departments to discuss these developments.
This motion is about a crisis in the availability of affordable housing. I hope that I have demonstrated that this is not necessarily the case, although I will continue to monitor the situation. In a free-market economy, however, the potential for Government intervention is limited. In the end, the market itself will determine whether house prices are affordable or not.
At this stage may I welcome the motion and thank Dr McDonnell for bringing it forward. Many points have been raised here which I will consider. I will now deal with the points raised by Members this morning.
Members may know that I have already met the Social Development Committee. I look forward to the support of that Committee, and of the Assembly, when I push for the necessary resources to finance many of the things that have been highlighted today.
Dr McDonnell made reference to the need to develop brown-field sites. I am pleased to report that a high percentage of new houses are being built on brown-field sites. I will continue to stress the importance of this in my deliberations with my colleagues, Gregory Campbell, the Minister for Regional Development, and Sam Foster, the Minister of the Environment.
The Housing Executive and the University of Ulster have carried out extensive research into affordable housing. I am aware that there are specific places across Northern Ireland where higher land prices have resulted in increased house prices. I have therefore commissioned additional research to determine the causes of this problem.
Sir John Gorman mentioned the inability of the Housing Executive to borrow private finance. This is a matter for the Treasury. However, the Green Paper on housing in Great Britain includes suggestions for the creation of arms-length housing companies. These would still be controlled by local authorities, but would be outside the public sector borrowing requirement. I will monitor these developments closely to determine whether a similar arrangement could be introduced in Northern Ireland which would allow the Housing Executive to borrow private finance. Sir John raised an important point which is worth repeating. He said that Northern Ireland has the highest rate of home ownership of any region in the United Kingdom — more than 71%.
I suspect that Michelle Gildernew did not read the motion, but I will try to deal with her points. She referred to the need for more social housing and for funds to tackle unfitness. As part of the Spending Review 2000, I made a bid for funds to cover both issues. I made this clear at the Social Development Committee, of which she is a Member, last week.
The Housing Executive has commenced a fundamental review of the homelessness strategy. A consultation paper will be issued later this year. Ms Gildernew said something else, which made me think that some people are so caught up with looking back that they cannot look forward.
She then said that she would value a freeze on rents. I suspect that those who call for a freeze on rents will also be calling for a similar freeze on rates. I look forward to that. In relation to Ms Gildernew’s comments, I would point out that a terror campaign was waged in this Province for 30 years. Many homes were ripped apart as a result. Our cities, towns and villages had to sustain a vicious onslaught of bombing. Police barracks were supposed to be targeted, but the real target was social housing, and it was pulled apart. The money to replace those houses did not grow on trees. I suspect that today’s housing waiting list would not be the size it is, had we had not the terror campaign that was waged by the IRA — her associates. That point must be made.
Also, in parts of Belfast, good houses, just 12 years old, are lying vacant because of Republican intimidation across the peace line. Those are the sorts of problems that my Department has to tackle, but we will not give up.
Some Members mentioned the amount of vacant and unfit private sector houses. In many cases housing associations would be interested in taking these over to renovate them and to let them to social tenants. However, private landlords are reluctant to become involved, because housing associations must offer secure tenancies and the landlord has no guarantee that he will regain vacant possession. The new Housing Bill includes provision for the creation of shorthold tenancies, and this should encourage private landlords to hand over vacant and unfit houses to housing associations, thus making them available for rent to social housing tenants. Mr Tierney raised the housing crisis in his constituency and particularly in the city of Londonderry. I am meeting Derry City Council quite soon, and I will discuss that matter with them. Mr John Kelly referred to the role of housing associations in the provision of social housing. I refute the idea that housing associations provide a lower standard of service than the Housing Executive. Housing associations build to standards prescribed by the Department, and the maintenance and repairs are on a par with those for Housing Executive houses. The Department closely monitors the situation.
On Mr Neeson’s call for a rent freeze, I suspect that he will also want a rates freeze. A few Members raised the important issue of rural unfitness. That matter concerns me immensely. I am acutely aware — [Interruption]
John (Speaker, Belfast East)
Order. Members should give the Minister a chance to speak. They can conduct their debate in the Lobby if they so wish.
John Kelly (Sinn Féin, Mid Ulster)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker.
John (Speaker, Belfast East)
Is it a point of order?
John Kelly (Sinn Féin, Mid Ulster)
Yes. Is it in order to ask the Minister to give way?
John (Speaker, Belfast East)
The Member may ask, but if the Minister refuses, the Member will have no right to require it.
John Kelly (Sinn Féin, Mid Ulster)
Is it in order to ask him?
John (Speaker, Belfast East)
It is not common to ask Ministers to give way during summing-up speeches, but if the Member were to ask, it would be a matter for the Minister.
John Kelly (Sinn Féin, Mid Ulster)
Will the Minister give way?
Maurice Morrow (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)
Mr Speaker, I will finish in a moment.
Some Members raised the issue of unfit housing in rural areas. I am acutely aware of that, and I am aware that in places such as Fermanagh rural unfitness is running at some 17%. That causes me great concern. It is something that I will look at very closely, and I will discuss it with my officials to see if we can work out a plan to tackle the matter.
If I have missed any points that Members have raised today, I undertake to deal with them in writing. I thank the Member for bringing the motion before us.
Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Belfast South)
I thank all Members for the wide range of views expressed. The Minister has covered many of the points raised, but I would also like to refer to some of them.
Sir John Gorman mentioned red-lining. Red-lining was a bottleneck in the past, but there may be other bottlenecks.
I want to thank the Minister for his comprehensive response. It gives me great heart that we have had such a useful outcome and a consensus across the Chamber. While we differ on some aspects, we all agree that we have to give people a reasonable choice of either buying or renting and to ensure that people can aspire to having a home of their own, otherwise our society will not have the justice, equality or stability that we hope for.
The Minister raised many points that I will not go through again. He and some Members, including Mr Sammy Wilson, mentioned empty, unused houses. It would be extremely useful if we could find ways of dealing with the empty houses, whether derelict, semi-derelict or underused, across the city. I welcome any development in legislation to deal with that.
I thank Mr Boyd for the detailed statistics he provided. There are 44,000 unfit houses, 23,000 people on waiting lists and 2,000 adaptations needed. Those represent personal tragedies, families living in sub-standard housing in desperate need of help. The financial pit is not bottomless, but we will have to find mechanisms for housing.
I refer to Mr John Kelly’s comments about housing, health and education, and I endorse them strongly. Those are fundamental issues and have been for generations. Regardless of political party or personal interests, they will be the cornerstones of a whole range of policies that needs to emerge from the Assembly.
I would like to pick up on Mr Sean Neeson’s point about homelessness. There has been an increase in homelessness in the city of Belfast linked in many cases to vulnerable people being discharged from mental institutions. Many people who are on the verge of being semi-independent, and who were in the past incarcerated in institutions are now finding their way out on to the streets, and the institutions are shrinking in size.
The homelessness situation in South Belfast, perhaps because of its proximity to Knockbracken healthcare park — formerly Purdysburn Hospital — is now in many cases critical. The debate touched on people in need, and they are the most vulnerable people in society. Many of them cannot look after themselves.
In taking an approach to housing, we also have to deal with hostels, particularly for males. I see people living in sheds and lying in yards, merely surviving. Ten to 15 years ago I did not think that I would see this happening in Belfast, but there are people sleeping rough, and that affects and distresses me. If the Assembly and the Executive are to be worth their salt, this problem needs to be tackled from the bottom to the top, in all its aspects; from the homeless, to those who are on a low wage and those who are unable to work for themselves. As I have already said, the Minister has given us a tour de force. I welcome any developments, any expansion of a new-build programme and any innovative ways of creating space and setting land aside.
The Minister dwelt on some of the successes of the past, and while I would be the first to sing the praises of the Housing Executive and Northern Ireland’s housing record on the past, I believe it is critical to look to the future. The hassle and expense of the home buying process certainly has to be cut, and the pain must be taken out of it. I welcome the Minister’s statements on brown-field sites and short hold tenancies.
We have had a very useful debate this morning. We need to give people a reasonable choice of either buying or renting their homes, and we need to ensure that people have the security of a roof over their heads. We need to think creatively and be imaginative in providing people with homes. The crucial edge and interface for the imagination must be for those on the bottom rung of the ladder.
In my earlier statements I dwelt on the issue of the purchase of affordable homes, because I knew that a number of Colleagues were going to concentrate on social housing. The provision of all houses, whether at the social housing level, or the low end of the mortgage market, needs to be dealt with as innovatively as possible. There are ways and means, and we can copy best practices in the continent, the USA or elsewhere.
I welcome the suggestion that in allowing planning permission for large-scale developments there should be 10%, 15% or even 20% of land set aside in difficult cases where there is a big social housing demand. We need to ensure that those on low wages do not feel disadvantaged compared to those who are on benefits. This is a very delicate balance to achieve with regard to economic development, wages, health and welfare. People on low wages need not and should not feel disadvantaged compared to those who are on benefits. Sometimes those on benefits seem to have an advantage, because they can have access housing and have their rent paid or subsidised, so it appears that those on low wages are penalised for working.
My purpose in moving this motion was not only to highlight the issue, but to raise the possibility of our helping people to help themselves. We need to ensure that no one is homeless, but I think that I dwelt on that for long enough.
One issue that we did not mention, and the Minister knows as much about this as anybody, is the question of rural unfitness. These problems tend to exist in ones and twos in rural areas; they do not exist in the clusters or groups that we see in Belfast. It is as big an issue in rural areas, but it is much more scattered.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved:
That this Assembly notes with concern the growing crisis in the availability of affordable housing and urges the Minister for Social Development to bring forward proposals to address this issue.
Adjourned at 12.30 pm.