The Northern Ireland Housing Executive has spent almost £400,000 on temporary accommodation in Newry, Mourne and Down district over the last five years, it has been revealed.
The £397,058.36 figure — obtained by Aontú — has been spent placing people in temporary hotel and B&B accommodation which has been branded “outrageous” by the party’s south Down representative, Rosemary McGlone.
Ms McGlone says the costs reflects a broader failure by the Executive to properly invest in or maintain existing social housing.
“Think about how many existing social homes this could have repaired or upgraded,” she said.
“Rather than investing in our current housing stock, the Executive is content to pay private companies millions of taxpayers’ money, in some cases literally creating millionaires, whilst thousands languish on the housing waiting list.
“This is a shameful amount of money to put in the pockets of private companies whilst the Executive shirks its responsibility to ensure existing social homes are fit for purpose and available.
“Stormont is building so few homes this year that it would take decades for them to clear the waiting list we have today.
“We are suffering from a crisis in housing, and yet rather than spending this money on bricks and mortar, the Housing Executive is content, backed by Stormont, to put families in hotels and B&Bs without any security of tenure.
“We are hearing from people on a daily basis who are waiting years for adequate housing, raising their children in hotel rooms without any facilities even to cook a meal. Children are often sent to school without knowing if they are coming back to the same place to sleep that night.”
Ms McGlone said the figures represent a total failure of Stormont and of MLAs to act on the growing housing crisis, “instead looking for a quick fix that will keep many families on the housing merry-go-round”.
“For our part, we will keep exposing these outrageous failures and demanding better for our communities.”
