Launch of Alpha, Newly Formed Housing Association - 29 April 2009

Chairmen, ladies and gentlemen - good afternoon.

I would like to begin by thanking the Chairmen of Abode and Presbyterian Housing Associations for inviting me here today to launch Alpha Housing Association.  It really is a great pleasure for me to be in at the beginning of a new chapter in the life of the social housing movement.

We do need to continue developing, because that is what we need to do if we are to be ‘fit for purpose’ for what lies ahead.  Abode and Presbyterian Housing Associations have come a very long way since their early beginnings.  Each of you has been successful in your own right and you have made a very real difference to the lives and well being of a great many people.

But, change and challenge is all around us.  The Boards of both Abode and Presbyterian are to be congratulated for having had the foresight and the courage to amalgamate the strengths of your individual organisations, in order to compete better for the future.  And it is timely, given the relevant read across to the New Housing Agenda that I launched just over a year ago.

The New Housing Agenda is all about embracing and delivering change.  I want to tell you about some of the successes we have had in the relatively short time the New Housing Agenda has been in place, and also say something about the challenges that lie ahead for us as social housing providers.

Integral to the New Housing Agenda, is my desire to increase the supply of social and affordable housing. I have committed my Department to meeting what will be very challenging Programme for Government targets, aimed at delivering ten thousand new homes over a five year period.

We started our work in 2007/08 by delivering above target on the number of new social houses to be provided.  Despite a shortfall in budget at the start of the year - a recurring theme you will hear me come back to again - we finished up with almost 1600 new homes started. So that was a very good beginning.

The year just past, presented an even bigger challenge.  The plan was to deliver 1,500 new homes.  Despite the loss of over £70 million pounds from my budget, as a result of the collapse of the land and property market, it was a significant achievement that we ended the year with 1,136 new homes.  Part of the shortfall has already been made up in this new financial year and we must secure the resources to get back on course.

And in terms of good accommodation, we have stuck with our ambitious plans to raise the standard of our public housing stock.  

From April 2008, the Housing Association Guide required all new build family accommodation to be designed to Level Three of the Code for Sustainable Homes.  Housing association homes are therefore 25% more energy efficient than ever before.

And we want to go further. A pilot scheme, being built to Level Four is underway, to help inform decisions about the best way forward.  

Similar innovation has been applied to the extension of equity sharing to Housing Executive tenants and in the pragmatic approach to off the shelf purchases. A unique new ‘Own a Home’ scheme was launched in Portadown, which brought developer, bank and housing association together to offer an unprecedented package of low cost access to home ownership.  

Other major New Housing Agenda initiatives have involved committing a £100 million pound investment to the urban renewal of the Village Area of Belfast, the development of a healthy private rented sector and improved energy efficiency in private sector homes, through the Warm Homes Scheme.

In addition, I am excited about the progress being made in our Shared Housing initiative.  We know that most people would prefer to live in a mixed neighbourhood and yet less than 10% do.  That is something I want to change.  

We are rolling out the Shared Neighbourhood Programme, in existing estates, in partnership with the Housing Executive, and we want to do more in new developments.

We have had an eventful and challenging year since the New Housing Agenda was launched.  I believe that, not withstanding the resource issues, we have been innovative and energetic and I think housing is now much higher up the public policy agenda as a result.

My biggest challenge without doubt, has to be securing sufficient funding to do the work that needs to be done.  The housing budget is facing a serious shortfall in the magnitude of £100 million pounds in each of the next two years.  To me this is unacceptable and I will continue to insist that the Executive should revisit the Programme for Government and Budget to ensure that targeted outcomes can still be achieved.

So, watch this space.  This is an argument that simply has to be won.

And budget constraints aside, I know that we are doing a good job.  Confirmation of that comes from the British Irish Council, which has just recognised our interest in housing innovation, so much so, that we have been asked to lead the new housing workstream for all of these islands and beyond.  That is a very positive endorsement of the good work being done, not only within my Department, but also by professionals and voluntary committees like yourselves, delivering on the ground, on a daily basis.  And long may that continue.

I wish you all well in your new venture and trust that you will go on from strength to strength.

And, finally, given the church based ethos of your new housing association, it somehow seems appropriate that you have a Billy Graham running the show.  Of course, I am well aware that until recently Billy worked on this side of the pitch.  

Good luck, Billy, in your new chosen profession.  

It now gives me great pleasure to hand over the new DSD Registration formally declaring Alpha open for business and to unveil this plaque showing Alpha’s new logo.