Social Housing needs to be tackled at Executive Level before more Homeless hit the Streets - Copeland
UUP Social Development spokesman Michael Copeland today responded to the Federation of Housing Associations call for social housing provision to be placed at the top of the Assembly agenda.
In a statement Mr Copeland, who held discussions with Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie yesterday on the housing shortage in East Belfast, said in a statement,
“I echo the calls of the Federation of Housing Associations. In my experience there are two basic common threads that stand out and need to be urgently addressed when looking at the overall situation.
Firstly, the state of many of the properties are deteriorating or have already deteriorated to sub-standard levels. Secondly, demand is outstripping supply.
Many of the cases I deal with are for those who have been left with faulty heating systems, leaking roofs, overcrowding, damp and in some extreme cases, rat infestations. Nobody, whatever circumstances that they find themselves in, should have to live with these conditions.
Our Offices have details of a great many of sub-standard Executive houses and many horror stories of the residents of some of these properties. I am convinced that while large in number, our files are only giving us a pixel of the overall picture.
This crisis will get worse. That is why a serious attempt must be made to tackle it. The sticking plaster approach of throwing a few thousand here, a million there will not work in the long run. The Housing Executive is not to wholly to blame given their tight financial constraints, the root cause, I believe, is decades of under-investment by successive governments.
For me one of life’s most basic rights is a decent place to live. Currently to a great many people this is a right that is denied to them. The Budget, limited as it is, must do more to start tackling the problem otherwise I can foresee the sight of a great many more homeless people on the streets of Northern Ireland.”