Ministerial Speech to NIHE Conference

Mr Chairman, Delegates, good morning and thank you for the opportunity to join you here this morning on day two of your Annual Management Conference.

May I start by congratulating the organisers in their magnificent choice of venue for this conference. I should probably declare an interest here, you are after all in my constituency of South Down.

I understand many of you enjoyed some traditional South Down hospitality here last night. There is no sense in coming down to such a beautiful part of the countryside if you can not mix business with a little pleasure. So I trust that you all enjoyed your first day here in Newcastle and that your second will be just as stimulating.

When I took up office I said that housing was my top priority. That remains the case. I have real ambition for housing in Northern Ireland. I can see from the impressive programme prepared for this conference that you have ambition for housing too.

Just over 6 weeks ago I launched my New Housing Agenda for Northern Ireland. It included a number of new initiatives and proposals aimed at tackling the increasing numbers of people waiting for housing.  People either homeless or on waiting lists.

But the new Housing Agenda is not just about tackling the numbers. If we do the right things in housing we can help build stronger communities and a Shared Future. We can also contribute to long-term sustainability,

With average house prices now up to twelve times that of average earnings, it can be no surprise that more and more people are turning to social housing as their only opportunity of having a home to call their own. So we have to build more houses.

Central to the New Housing Agenda is the commitment to build more social housing than before. In the next 3 years our target is to build 5,250 new homes. Over the next 5 years, we are committed through the Programme for Government to build 10,000. These are challenging targets. But build these we will, and to deliver that, I will need your help.

The Housing Executive is currently responsible for delivery of the Social Housing Development Programme. It is a tribute to all concerned that last year we surpassed our target, starting work on 1595 as opposed to 1500 new homes. So next year I expect to see us reach 1600 new starts. We must seek to improve year on year. It is important that we maintain momentum in the programme.

Whilst you must continue to work alongside our partners in the Housing Associations to identify suitable schemes and deliver them where the need is greatest, I will deliver the resources and the policy context to help you achieve this. Whilst I have been able to draw down an extra quarter of a billion pounds for social housing so far (since the draft budget), much more is needed if we are to address the legacy of under funding that housing here endured during years of Direct Rule.

So you get the houses underway and leave Peter Robinson to me!

I mentioned that housing can be the catalyst to further transforming our society: For too long we were brought up in segregation and isolation, going to school, working, playing and yes, living apart. My new Housing Agenda will start to address this segregation, providing the housing that can bring our people together, not keep them apart.

In a recent visit to Harlem I was amazed to see the difference that their new approach to housing has had, not just in bricks and mortar, but on the community itself. Harlem has had a troubled past and was a segregated community suffering multiple deprivation. In short people queued up to get out. Now they pay up to $2m to get in.

Mixed-tenure housing has brought new people and new wealth into the area. Shops and businesses have followed. So too have jobs.  It was amazing to see the transformation that housing led regeneration can make.

So if it can work in Harlem, if housing can be the catalyst there, why not here in Northern Ireland?  

This is why I placed Shared Future and Mixed Tenure housing at the heart of my New Housing Agenda.

I want to provide housing that no longer separates either on the basis of class or creed. We have already seen how the residents of Carran Crescent warmly embraced the Shared Future concept of living together and we hope to have many more schemes in the pipeline.

But it is just as important that we now focus on introducing this concept to our existing housing estates. We must show these residents the benefits to be had from a shared future, a shared equal future.  But it will not be easy. It may take many years. But it is right to make a start and by the end of this month we will have done just that with the announcement of the first 5 estates in this new programme.

Alongside this will be our commitment to providing more mixed tenure housing.

Until now, social housing has largely been provided for in Housing Estates or developments exclusively created for social tenants.  In recent years high land costs have led to the development of more and more social housing on the periphery of cities and towns in areas not so attractive to the private market.

The introduction of a developer contribution will start to redress this balance and begin to deliver more mixed tenure housing as opposed to single tenure developments, whether they be for private sale or social rent.  

And if we need to demonstrate the benefits of a mixed tenure approach to housing, we should look no further than the nearest Housing Executive estate.  These once sprawling public-sector Housing Estates, have gradually been transformed in recent years through the ‘House Sales Scheme’. Since the introduction of this scheme, many Housing Executive tenants have bought a stake in their home.

But more than that. They have bought a stake in their community.

We must not underestimate the sense of pride and value people have in their community when they can own a stake in their home. This leads to greater social and economic integration and where once social housing was considered more appropriate for people with little or no choice, they are now the home of choice for many. That is why I announced plans as part of my new housing agenda, to extend this scheme, to allow existing social tenants to buy a share of their home.

I also announced plans to make our money go further, to get more bang for our buck. For example, I expect to see savings generated through the introduction of our forthcoming procurement strategy. I also announced plans to reduce grant rates to Housing Associations. Associations must seek to make better use of their balance sheets and bring in greater levels of private finance to allow them to continue to work alongside us in delivering the programme.

But it is not just Housing Associations that must seek to stretch their resources. The Housing Executive itself is not immune to the efficiencies that we have all been asked to identify.

I am aware that a ‘Modernising Services’ programme is underway within the Housing Executive. This will deliver real improvements in service quality, ensuring services are delivered in the most cost-effective way. The delivery of these improvements means change in the way some key services are to be delivered.  We must strive to find ways to work smarter, not necessarily harder, for the best results.

However I am confident that you will meet this challenge and continue to be a role model to others in terms of service delivery. The Housing Executive has always been committed to the delivery of quality services to its customers and I would take the opportunity this morning to pay tribute to each and every one of you for your role in that.

You are one of only 17 organisations in the UK and the only representative from Northern Ireland, chosen to be a Customer Service Excellence Standard Bearer. And I know you have had other achievements of note.

As part of the enhanced budget settlement I received for the next three years, I undertook to look innovatively at any new proposals to increase the resources available for the New Housing Agenda. My Department is already working very closely with the Housing Executive to take forward some of the issues raised by your earlier speaker this morning, Margaret Ford, who undertook a significant review for me into the funding of social and affordable housing in Northern Ireland.

I have already mentioned that we will build more new social houses in the coming years. But to support this ambitious programme, I want to explore the potential that exists to maximise the use of our assets.  And we have some tremendous assets that we can make more use of.

We hold a large land bank that we must seek to utilise more imaginatively. We also have a tremendous asset base in the form of our existing housing stock that may also be capable of attracting future investment. We have invested heavily in reducing housing unfitness and now that our stock is the envy of many, I want to identify the resources we will need going forward to manage and maintain this.

When I announced the New Housing Agenda to the Assembly in February, I concluded by saying that we had a radical and energetic agenda for housing not seen for a generation. I am determined to deliver the change that is desperately needed if we are to overcome the housing crisis we now face. I will continue to rely on you to help me deliver this agenda and I do not for one minute underestimate the challenges that lie ahead for us.

In a world of uncertainty, let me say a word about how I see the Housing Executive:

You were established in the context of huge controversy around housing. You delivered to the point that the controversy simply went away. You continued to take the politics out of housing while remaining sensitive to the need for democratic control.

The fact that you have been so successful over such a sustained period is the reason why I insisted that the central functions of housing should be retained in your organisation rather than be transferred to local government under the Review of Public Administration. I can tell you now, that notwithstanding the efficiency challenges the entire public sector faces, as long as I am Minister for Housing,  the Housing Executive shall remain a unified comprehensive housing Authority for Northern Ireland.

But I have an important agenda to deliver for our people. If I come up short it will also be disappointing for you. If I succeed it will also be your success.

I cannot succeed without you, so I am asking you – the people in this room, to help me and to show that the Northern Ireland Housing Executive can repeat its triumphs of the past.

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a hugely important conference taking place in Northern Ireland this week.

For me it is this one.

Thank you

The theme for your conference is Delivering Better Homes-Better Communities. When you return to your offices next week, take that message with you, because ultimately that is what we are all charged with and if we achieve that, we will go a long way to delivering a key objective from my New Housing Agenda.

Enjoy the rest of your programme, enjoy the rest of your time in South Down.