Housing Seminar Derry - 4 September 2008

Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, may I add my late words of welcome to each of you and thank you for giving up your time today to take part in our seminar.

My thanks also to Sean, Gerry and Paul for their excellent presentations and it now falls to me to close proceedings with a few words on what I plan to do after we go away from today’s event.

First of all I intend to continue to make housing my first and foremost priority. It affects the lives of so many people and there can be no more basic fundamental right in this day and age than having a home to call your own. That is why the New Housing Agenda makes it clear that we are going to provide more social and affordable housing.

I have committed my Department to meeting what will be very challenging programme for 10,000 additional homes over the next 5 years, considerably more than before.

We heard this morning from Sean about the rising housing need in Derry. Whilst we plan to start 138 new homes in Derry and complete a further 145 this year, I accept that we must seek to do more. That is why I fought so hard to secure a budget that would give me the platform to start making this investment. You can be assured that, as long as I remain Minister for Housing, Derry will get its fair slice of this investment.

This year alone nearly £22m will be spent on housing initiatives in the City. That represents a very significant slice of my housing budget.

Securing the budget was one thing, making the best use of it is another. That is why I will shortly launch our new Procurement Strategy, designed to deliver a more efficient approach to the delivery of Social Housing.

Over the next 5 years this new strategy will realise significant savings. It will bring together Housing Associations in pooling their experience, expertise and purchasing power, in a manner not previously seen.

I am delighted that the North and West Housing Association have taken a leading role in establishing the Apex Procurement Group alongside other smaller Housing Associations. With a new combined approach, we can improve the delivery of social housing in the future at a better price, delivering more ‘bang for our buck.’

However there continues to be a major affordability problem. This time last year, rising house prices stopped first time buyers getting onto the housing ladder.

Now, as prices start to fall back, those same first time buyers are still unable to buy their own home due to the lack of available and affordable credit from banks and other lending institutions.

And let us not under-estimate the scale of our affordability problem. House prices here in Derry alone increased by over 150% during the last 5 years. So whilst I am not unsympathetic to those affected by the recent fall in the market, particularly those employed in the construction Industry, we must keep recent price falls in perspective.

During his presentation, Gerry Kelly set out a model for how more affordable housing can be delivered here in the North West.

I would like to pay tribute to North and West for making £4m available for affordable housing schemes here. I think we should all recognise the contribution of North and West Housing Association to housing here in Derry over a long period of time now.

I have no doubt that this announcement today will come as a welcome boost to everyone in the housing sector here. But for me, it will come as a welcome boost for those 100 plus families who will now be able to enjoy home ownership, in a way that is affordable and does not expose them to the excesses of the market.

I am delighted that my Department has been able to facilitate this work

On Tuesday of this week, I launched the very first model of this sort in Portadown – a unique low-cost path to home ownership. I want this model to roll out all over the North.  For, despite all the problems in the market, the vast majority of people here still aspire to home ownership and I want to help them realise their aspirations.

When I launched the New Housing Agenda in February, I announced plans to bring forward a new Mortgage Rescue Scheme, unique to these shores. I am delighted to say that the consultation document will be coming to a post box near you very soon.

If it is right to help people make that first step onto the housing ladder, then it must also be right to help them when they are struggling to stay on the ladder. Our proposals will lead the way offering advice, support at court and if needs be, a buy back scheme to include a flexible tenure model for those who have some equity in their homes.

It has been a busy few weeks because I have also just approved proposals to extend the benefits of home ownership to more tenants living in social housing. Sean told us earlier how the Housing Executive here in Derry had assisted over 8,000 local tenants buy their home through this scheme.

Whilst the evidence suggests that tenants in social housing still aspire to home ownership, only 59 of them in Derry were able to realise this dream last year.

By far and away the largest tenure group across Derry is the owner occupied sector and if affordability is now creating barriers preventing tenants moving from the social to the private sector, then it is my job to do all I can to remove those barriers.

That is why I plan to allow social tenants to buy a stake in their homes from as little as 25% with discount available to those longest serving tenants to help them make this initial move.  I want to create as many new pathways to home ownership, secure and affordable home ownership, as possible. I see no reason why social tenants should be denied this chance and I am delighted that this will become possible later this year.

I was particularly determined to host this conference in the City here today. It is important that people realise the range and totality of work that is going on across a number of workstreams to improve housing, both in quantity and quality, throughout Derry.

For example next week I will be launching two new schemes, one commencing in the Bogside and another in the Creggan. Both these schemes have been heavily backed by my Department and delivered with our Housing partner here in Derry, North and West Housing Association.

I’ll also be bringing my counterpart, Michael Finneran TD, the Southern Housing Minister to Derry to show him some of the things we are doing and to discuss the challenges ahead.

Next week I will return to cut the first sod at a new £7.5m scheme in Dove Gardens in the Bogside.  When completed, 59 family homes and 4 bungalows will provide new, energy efficient housing that will sustain a new vibrant community in that area.

This scheme will see the replacement of several older maisonettes, with bright new accommodation influenced and designed following the completion of a Health Impact Assessment, a first for any housing scheme in Ireland.

This is an exciting new scheme and those residents who take up tenancy when work is complete, will benefit from the new energy efficiency measures that will reduce their future energy costs.

Having cut the first sod on this new scheme, I will then travel the short distance to Oakland Park in the Creggan. Here I will declare our latest new scheme in Derry officially open and hand over keys to our first tenants. This £5.2m scheme comprises 33 family homes and 6 apartments.

A unique aspect of this development was the partnership with Derry City Council resulting not just in new, much needed housing, but also the re-development of playing fields into new state of the art facilities for the local community to share and enjoy. A new community building has also been included incorporating a children’s play area.

I know there are members of Derry City Council here today. I would like to commend the Council for its support for this development and I know that you are actively exploring other opportunities for surplus Council owned land. My door is always open if you think there are possible housing or regeneration uses for these surplus sites.

Finally I want to touch on my plans for more Shared Future housing.

I am determined to try to make inroads on the segregation in our housing because I believe our separation, along sectarian lines, diminishes all of us:

Research shows that eight out of ten people, given a choice, express the desire to live in a mixed community. Yet, as we know all too well here in Derry, especially when it comes to housing, that choice is simply not there.

I accept that change must be community led and I will not be asking any community or neighbourhood to accept this form of shared living if they are not yet ready for it. But with so many locally elected representatives here today, I would urge you to do all you can to help show our people what can be achieved when communities live together, rather than apart.

Just last month I announced the first five neighbourhoods to take part in our new Shared Neighbourhoods Programme.  Later I will announce the next round of neighbourhoods who have come forward for years two and three of this Programme.

I know there is already a  tremendous amount of work going on here in Derry to promote reconciliation between the two established communities. It is my hope that our Programme will include some Neighbourhoods from the North West.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been an extremely interesting day for me. Whilst you have listened patiently to what we are doing, I too have listened carefully to what you are telling me needs to be done.

I can assure you that I leave here today, confident that we can make a difference in Derry and confident that we can meet the challenges ahead of us.

Like me, I know you will want to see delivery of the New Housing Agenda so that we can tackle the housing crisis that I inherited just over a year ago.

Thank you for your attendance, your patience and your continuing support for our work here in Derry City.