A new agenda for housing

Mr Speaker with your permission I would like to take the opportunity this morning to outline to this Assembly how I intend to deliver a range of actions which I believe herald the start of a new housing agenda here in Northern Ireland.

Let me say from the outset, I believe everyone should have the opportunity to live in a decent, warm home that is affordable to them. There can be no more fundamental right than having a roof over your head and that is why as Minister for Social Development I have made the alleviation of our housing crisis my foremost priority.

On my first day as Minister, I found that my Department had barely the resources to start 600 new houses this year against a target of over twice that. However I have since secured an additional £70million in the current year and I am pleased to confirm that we are on track to start 1,500 homes this year. You gave me the money. I am giving you the houses.

Inheriting an inadequate budget was one thing. Accepting one would have been quite another. The draft budget initially allocated to me for housing for the next three years was not acceptable. I think that was fairly obvious. What was not so obvious perhaps was the very real damage that would have been done to the Social Housing Development Programme if more resources were not made available.

There were many, some sitting in this very Chamber here today, who told me to accept my lot and just get on with it. What they failed to grasp was that you cannot provide public housing without public money. Thankfully through the detailed analysis and strength of argument I put forward, I persuaded my Executive Colleagues to increase the housing budget. I think they recognised the substantial contribution the housing programme makes to the construction sector and the overall economy.

I will leave it to others to determine if an extra 205 million pounds to tackle waiting lists, homelessness and affordability was worth fighting for. I don’t think that is such a bad return for my first nine months in office.

However while trying to secure a better housing budget for the next three years I used the time to assess the scale of the challenge  

Today there are:

These are staggering and unprecedented statistics. That is why I have looked for radical and unprecedented solutions.

To deliver a new Housing Agenda, it was clear that I needed to deliver more innovative and imaginative solutions than ever before.

I established an Affordability Review Group to look at the recommendations arising from Sir John Semple’s study into Affordable Housing. I brought in a Panel of Independent Housing Experts, representative of all interests across public, private and voluntary sectors to identify priorities. To complement that work, I asked Baroness Margaret Ford, formerly Chair of English Partnerships, to review the financial and economic options for better delivery of social and affordable housing in Northern Ireland.

Their work is now completed and I want to outline some of the measures that I am preparing to take forward.

I have developed an Implementation Plan that identifies who, how and when each of the Semple recommendations will be advanced. Sir John made 80 recommendations and half of these will be underway, some even delivered, by April this year. I will bring details to the Executive Committee for approval.

I am grateful to the expert panel for its insights and unanimous report, and I will be taking forward some of its key recommendations too. Similarly I am grateful for the work of Baroness Ford which includes some radical ideas for raising further capital against the social housing asset base. I look forward to advancing this work with the Department of Finance and Personnel and the Strategic Investment Board in the time ahead.

Mr Speaker, a starting point for the new housing agenda must be the construction of more homes. My final budget provides for the building of 1500 homes in year one, 1750 in year two and 2000 in year three. This represents a significant increase over previous years. And I hope to better those figures.

One of the key recommendations from all of the research is the introduction of a developer contribution:

I can now inform Members this morning that the Environment Minister and I intend to bring forward a policy to introduce a developer’s contribution to social and affordable housing. This contribution, which is a normal part of the planning process elsewhere in these islands, will require developers to provide social and affordable housing as a proportion of all new proposed housing developments. Under such an arrangement it will also be possible to have integrated developments so that social, affordable and private housing can be built, seamlessly, in the same development.

Last year alone, 2,000 homes were provided across Southern Ireland through a form of developer contribution. It is estimated that we could, in time, secure many hundreds, if not thousands, of additional affordable homes through a similar contribution. I do not understand why this was not brought forward under Direct Rule. A missed opportunity.

This is a significant proposal, the detail of which will go out to consultation as a proposed addendum to PPS12. I expect it to make a very positive impact. I am grateful to my colleague Arlene Foster for her support in bringing this forward with me as a priority.

The Housing Executive has also presented me with an Empty Homes Strategy. The strategy identifies the number of public and private houses currently empty and potentially available to bring back into use. An Action Plan is being taken forward which includes contacting up to 4000 owners of empty dwellings and encouraging them – perhaps aided by existing improvement grants – to make these dwellings available to new occupants. I have also lent my support to the Minister for Finance’s proposal to levy rates on empty houses. Together it is a carrot and stick approach – and the result should be more houses.

I am also engaged in the Ministerial sub-group on Rural Planning. In the context of a revised PPS14 I am currently negotiating for a relaxation in the restrictions on social and affordable housing development in rural settlements. I am confident we will soon be able to do more for those on the waiting lists who wish to live in rural communities.

With sky-high house prices, one of the greatest problems facing people is getting on to that first rung of the housing ladder.

For this reason I want to enhance the very successful Co-ownership Scheme so that more people can now look to this form of home ownership as a realistic alternative to immediate outright purchase. Last year record numbers of people were helped onto the housing ladder through Co-ownership and I want to build on that success.

From April this year I will abolish the existing limits that restrict the purchase of homes through Co-ownership. I also want to amend the scheme to allow people to enter it more easily.  I intend to make it possible for people to begin co-ownership by buying 25% of the value of a property as opposed to the current minimum of 50%. I also want them to find it easier to purchase additional shares in their homes so I will be reducing the minimum increment from its current 12.5% to just 5%.  When these changes are introduced, I will ensure that new eligibility criteria are in place so that people cannot overextend themselves financially.  

I am conscious also that there is a need to support people striving to stay on the housing ladder.  Last year, repossession orders were served on nearly a thousand people. I want to establish a Mortgage Rescue Scheme that will help those people, and I will have detailed proposals in place by the summer of this year.

Mr Speaker, I have also undertaken a review of the House Sales Scheme. The Scheme has proved very popular since it was first introduced and has led to a greater mix of tenures in our housing estates, bringing about greater social and economic cohesion. However, in recent years house sales have dropped as values have doubled. The appetite to buy remains high, but affordability is the obstacle.

I want to create more pathways to home ownership. That is why I will extend the House Sales Scheme from 1 November this year to give all social housing tenants the chance to own a share in their home.  I also hope to provide even more social housing with the additional receipts this new initiative can deliver.

The future of housing must now lie in mixed tenure and housing that will bring people together, not keep them apart.

Our Programme for Government was criticised for the absence of a specific commitment to a Shared Future. I want to say that a Shared Future will be a central theme in all my endeavours in housing.

Just as in the education sector there are many who want integration rather than segregation – the same can be said in relation to housing – and it is my intention to accomodate that desire.

I have visited the first Shared Future Housing scheme at Carran Crescent, Enniskillen and it is well settled. Work on a second scheme in Sion Mills is underway and good progress is being made on a number of other locations all over the North. It is also my intention to advance the shared future agenda in existing housing estates as well as in the newbuild schemes.

Mr Speaker, regrettably, Shared Future housing is sometimes presented as an alternative to delivering housing where it is most needed.

Nowhere more so than in the numerous interface territories of North Belfast.

All I can say is this: It is my first preference to see mixed-tenure shared future housing wherever possible. But where there is overwhelming need we must address that need above all else.

It is my intention to carry out a full Equality Impact Assessment in relation to the Crumlin Road/Girdwood site which offers considerable scope to ease the housing pressures of that part of Belfast. I would like to see shared future housing on that site – but if that is not possible I will proceed to build and I will not allow much-needed housing development to be vetoed by those motivated by territorial or sectarian considerations.

It is my intention also to incorporate creative private sector housing initiatives into the Shared Future planning.

From April this year I am cutting the level of grant per dwelling paid to Housing Associations by 10%. My research has indicated that Associations could absorb this cut by making better use of their assets and introducing more private finance. This means more houses for the same public investment.

Next month I will publish a new Procurement Strategy for housing associations: By creating larger procurement groups, Housing Associations will be able to drive down costs.  I expect savings of up to 10% to be delivered through this new Strategy.

The new Procurement Strategy will also introduce improved quality and innovation in design.

We must not only look to build more homes. We must build better homes.

I am committed to a significant investment in sustainable low carbon footprint housing. All new social houses built after April this year will be required to meet a level that, in effect, means they will be 25% more energy efficient than those built just two years ago.

By the end of March, the former Grosvenor Barracks in Enniskillen will become a major £40million regeneration project. This will include a new housing development, setting new standards in sustainable house construction, in effect becoming our first ever Eco-Village.

I will make this an exemplar for housing schemes in the North.

As well as developing an Eco-Village, with social, affordable and market housing, I want to make best use of the most environmentally friendly materials possible. The scheme will avail of solar energy as well as ground source heat pumps and recycling of grey water. I want to learn the economic lessons and replicate the project in other parts of the North.  By reducing the overall costs of the scheme we can demonstrate that it does not have to cost the earth to save the earth.

I will also promote sustainability in the Private Sector by making £40million available next year for Private Sector Grants. In addition, I intend to very significantly increase the resources for disabled adaptations to be carried out.

Improving sustainability and energy efficiency in both the private and social sector remains a key objective in our ongoing battle against Fuel Poverty.

This year alone my Department made 17,000 families warmer by directly improving the energy efficiency of their homes.  The success of our fuel poverty interventions can be told by the 200,000 people who today are not in fuel poverty as a result of our intervention.

I will increase my Department’s spending on Fuel Poverty from this April. I will also introduce practical reforms to the Warm Homes scheme to ensure maximum benefit from each intervention.

Mr Speaker, I have already emphasised the necessity for action in areas where housing need is greatest.  I know that there is a community, here in Belfast, who are looking to me to end their housing misery.

Nobody would deny that some of the housing in the Village area is simply not fit for purpose. When I visited the area, I saw for myself how poor some of the accommodation was and I had a sense of how the people have been strung along under Direct Rule.

I assured them that I would act and now, some three weeks after getting my budget, I am delighted to be able to announce today that I have allocated an immediate seven million pounds to start work in the Village. This seven million pounds represents the beginning of a long-term project that will lead to the revitalisation of the area and, hopefully, of the community itself.

The initial vesting will be authorised within the next few days and the declaration of the area as an Urban Renewal Area – which will kickstart the full redevelopment process – will I believe be formalised during March.

This will then trigger an investment of around £100 million for the village area.

I have introduced efficiencies into existing programmes and a range of new initiatives that will allow me to deliver more houses for less money. I will also bring surplus land onto the market for sale this year and am pleased to have been given an assurance that housing will be a priority area for redistributing receipts from this.

My Department will be engaging intensively with the private sector and development community to advance new structures and deals that can deliver the maximum housing on the ground for the least outlay of scarce public capital. I am confident that this innovation and flexibility can produce tremendous results in terms of additional housing if we go after it with vigour.

To this end, I will be looking critically at the structures and capacity for delivery in my own Department and I have already asked the Strategic Investment Board for its support in programme delivery.

Mr Speaker, we have already made a start and will continue to deliver more social housing: I am proposing radical changes and initiatives to deliver substantially more affordable homes. In addition, we recognise that it is essential to help more people onto the housing ladder and to ensure they stay there. Our priority will be to meet pressing housing need first, but this will not preclude delivery of Shared Future housing for the many people who want it. We will deliver more sustainable and energy efficient homes, including our first Eco-village. We will end the long term neglect of the ‘Village’ in South Belfast. Assets will be better leveraged and the resourcefulness of the private sector will be harnessed. And we will create the structures for delivery.

In short, Mr Speaker, we have a radical and energetic agenda for housing not seen for a generation. It has my total commitment and I believe that working together on this agenda we can prove once and for all that devolution is infinitely better for our people.

Coming from a party with a proud record in the reform of housing I am pleased to commend this agenda to this Assembly.