The Minister for Communities has addressed a serious shortfall in the construction of social housing… indicating an ambition to deliver 100,000 homes and more – if needed – over the next 15 years.
The announcement was made in reply to a letter addressed to Minister Gordon Lyons by Newry and Armagh MLA Justin McNulty.
In the letter, the SDLP MLA asked for the number of new homes expected to be constructed in the 2025/26 financial year, the number of new homes required to meet demand, the obstacles to constructing sufficient homes to meet demand and for the Minister’s assessment of how best to remove those obstacles to meet current demand.
In regards to the number of new homes to be constructed in the 2025/26 financial year, the Minister referred Mr McNulty to publicly accessible reports published quarterly by Land & Property Services.
Based on information received from Building Control within each council area, the statistics reveal that during April to June 2025, 2,248 new dwellings were started, and 1,475 new dwellings were completed in Northern Ireland.
However, in relation to social homes only, the Minister explained: “The initial 2025/26 capital allocation will allow in the region of 1,000 new build social homes to start in 2025-26.
“Additional budget secured in the June Monitoring Round is expected to generate additional new social homes, however, this is significantly short of the target of 2,000 and a bid will be submitted in October monitoring round to address the shortfall.”
Adding to this, Minister Lyons explained that only a quarter of the social homes currently under construction will actually be completed in the financial year, explaining: “There are around 5,500 social homes currently under construction, and of these, it is expected that around 1,400 will be completed in 2025/26.”
Compared to the nationwide need, however, these numbers indicate the stark reality of what’s now being regarded as a ‘housing crisis’.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive – in its role as the strategic Regional Housing Authority for Northern Ireland – is responsible for the identification and analysis of housing need.
Locally, the Strategic Housing Market Analysis (SHMA) – dated June 2022 – indicates that for the Craigavon Urban Area and Newry Housing Market Areas (HMAs) combined there is a need for 1,530 newly constructed homes annually… already 130 more than what the Minister has estimated to be completed in 2025/26.
Broken down, in the Craigavon Urban Area HMA, the projected number of newly arising households over the projection horizon [2020 – 2035] is 12,790.
After allowing for expected changes in second homes, vacant dwellings, and the replacement of dwellings lost due to dereliction, demolition, etc, the projected total new dwelling requirements amount to 15,400, giving an average annual requirement of 1,030 dwellings over the 15-year period.
For the Newry HMA, the projected number of newly arising households over the projection horizon is 5,700.
After allowing for the same expected changes the projected total new dwelling requirements amount to 6,250, giving an average annual requirement of 420 dwellings over the 15-year period.
The report also indicates that within the Craigavon area there are an estimated 520 homeless individuals and families who do not have their own self-contained accommodation and in the Newry area there are 780 homeless individuals and families.
These individuals form a “net backlog of housing need” meaning that additional new dwellings are required to meet their need for accommodation.
With the addition of the backlog, the total new dwelling requirement for the Craigavon HMA increases to 15,920 and to 7,030 in the Newry HMA.
Th annualised total for Craigavon HMA therefore changes to 1,060 and Newry HMA becomes 470.
In his response to Mr McNulty, the Minister addressed the “barriers” to construction of homes, adding: “My Executive Housing Supply Strategy outlines the key barriers that impact on building homes.
“These include wastewater infrastructure, availability of land, the planning system and most importantly, budget.
“The strategy acknowledges that a whole system approach is needed to address these barriers, and it provides a long-term framework for the policies and actions needed to meet our housing needs and demand.
“This includes an ambition to deliver 100,000 homes and more, if needed, over the next 15 years.
“My Department is developing the first Executive action plan to implement the Strategy. This is being taken forward with Executive Departments and the NIHE.
“This cross-Executive approach will identify innovative and deliverable actions which will begin to address the range of whole system issues that impact on supply.
“I am working to bring a final draft of the Action Plan to the Executive in the coming months.”
