McCann - Affordable and social housing must be prioritised
Sinn Féin Housing Spokesperson, West Belfast MLA Fra McCann has said that
affordable
and social housing must be a priority for any incoming Executive
and
that dealing with the problem of vacant properties would have a
significant
impact in the provision of both affordable and social housing
and in
eradicating homelessness.
Speaking to a Sinn Féin amendment to a
motion on affordable housing in the
Transitional Assembly today Mr
McCann said:
"Without the amendment the substantive motion misses
an important element of
housing - the provision of social housing, a
sector which has for many years
been totally neglected and suffered for
serious and sustained under
investment. I would go further and say that
in today's housing market that
both affordable, social and the other
elements, which make up the housing
mix should run hand in glove.
"Sinn
Féin have warned British direct rule ministers about the inability of
the
Department of Social Development to manage the social new build housing
programme.
The crisis could have been avoided.
"98.3% of all housing starts
were for the private sector in the last
recorded quarter from April to
June 06. This is a major part of the reason
for the crisis in the
provision of social housing - we are not building
enough new homes in
the social sector - we are not meeting current targets -
targets that
are not ambitious enough in the first place.
"If one compares the
new build completions in 95/96 - when 2403 new social
houses were
built; to 05/06 when only 782 new social houses were completed.
A huge
decline over 10 years - we are now building only about a third of the
number
we were 10 years ago.
"If you match these figures against those
declaring themselves homeless it
puts the crisis into perspective. In
95/96 10,468 people declared as
homeless, ten years later that figure
had risen to over 20,000, and for the
first two quarters of 06 the
figures were 10,460, still on an upward trend
and an indictment on the
way housing has been mishandled.
"We need an Incoming Executive
to make affordable and social housing a
priority. We need to ensure
that a future housing minister will promote
sustainable communities and
ensure that every one has the opportunity of a
house at a price they
can afford, in a place where they want to live and
work.
"We
need to recognise that housing is a right - and I hope that work on a
Bill
of Rights will take a broad approach to social and economic rights.
"In
the 26 counties the approach to affordability was to bring in
legislation
to ensure that contractors provided 20% of a private housing
development
for social and affordable housing - this was done under part 5
of the
Planning and Development Act. Local councils in the south also land
bank
and use this in negotiations with contractors to ensure a continuous
supply
of social and affordable housing.
"We need to be proactive in our
approach to affordable and social housing,
we have to ensure that those
most in need in our society have a roof over
their heads, and those who
wish to buy their home are able to do so at an
affordable price, and we
need to ensure that speculators are not in a
position to freeze young
first time buyers out of the market which is the
norm at present.
"We
wait to see the impact of the latest increase in the cost of borrowing.
Yet,
if we look at statistics - in 01/02 there were 1,540 actions for
mortgage
repossessions, which was an 11.5% decrease on the previous year,
compare
this with 05/06 where there were 2.614 actions which was an 19.5%
increase
on the previous year - this shows the extent of the problem.
"It
is imperative that this assembly is up and running. We owe it to the
30,000
people waiting on social housing, we owe it to the thousands waiting
on
an affordable home.
"Today, as we speak, out of a total housing
stock 702,000 in the north of
Ireland there are 36,280 were vacant
dwellings - all in various states of
repair and many left empty as
investments to accumulate profit. 1 in 20
homes empty.
"Without
building single house for the affordable or social sector - if we
tackled
this problem we could go a long way to providing homes for thousands
of
people and thousands of families - to meeting a commitment to eradicate
homelessness."
ENDS
Not to Editors
Motion on Affordable Housing
That
this Assembly expresses serious concerns about the affordable housing
crisis;
notes the deliberations by the committee chaired by Sir John Semple;
and
demands that any new Executive make affordable housing an urgent
government
priority.
Sinn Féin Amendment
Delete all after
"crisis;" and insert:
"and the serious under provision
of social housing due to lack of investment
and the absence of any
strategy; notes the deliberations by the committee
chaired by Sir John
Semple; and calls on an incoming Executive to make
social and
affordable housing an urgent priority and for the development of
a
strategic response including action to end homelessness by 2010; and to
bring
vacant properties back into use to meet the unmet need in the
provision
of social and affordable housing."