The Executive is facing calls to ringfence future Barnett consequentials for the development of social housing after the Chancellor announced that the UK Government will invest £2bn in new social and affordable housing in England.
Under Stormont's funding formula, Northern Ireland will receive additional money which is based on our population size, through the Barnett formula as a result of the announcement.
Seamus Leheny, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations, has called on the Executive to ring-fence all consequential funding from this decision so that more social homes can be built in Northern Ireland.
Speaking after the announcement, he said: “When the Labour Government came into power, they committed to a major social housing building programme. At that, NIFHA made it clear to both UK Government Ministers and NI Executive Ministers that we wanted to ensure that equivalent NI money from these budget allocations would be ring-fenced for social housing and not simply absorbed into the block grant.
“A £2billion investment in housing is hugely significant, and we now want to see exactly what that means for Northern Ireland. We need a firm commitment from the whole NI Executive that the funding benefit we get from this is directly put into a housing programme. This would, at first, support key water infrastructure projects that can release more social housing and then be utilised to increase the social housing budget between now and 2027.
“Directing this money into a strategic housing programme is essential if we are serious about tackling the housing problem, the growing waiting list and, as we have seen from the NI Audit Office report today, an increased level of reactive funding being spent on temporary housing solutions.”
SDLP MLA Mark H Durkin said he would be contacting the Communities Minister to establish the Barnett Consequential for Northern Ireland.
“Following the announcement that the UK Government is allocating significant additional funding to building social and affordable housing we must urgently establish what Barnett Consequential the Executive expects to receive as a result," he said.
“The Executive could see a financial boost as a result of this investment. It’s imperative that this money doesn’t disappear into Stormont’s financial black hole and is instead allocated for the same purposes here – building much-needed housing to get families off waiting lists and to enable others to get on the housing ladder.
“The Executive’s approach to housing has been abject given the scale of the emergency we are dealing with, social new builds are in the hundreds, developments are being held up due to a lack of wastewater infrastructure, and we are still none the wiser around how they intend to deliver the 100,000 homes promised in the Housing Supply Strategy.
“This funding will be no silver bullet, but it can have a significant impact if used for its intended purposes – delivering homes for families in need across the North.”
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