Christmas Cheer For New North Belfast Residents

Christmas has come early for 12 families in north Belfast as they settle into their new homes.

The total cost of the homes located in Alloa Street is £2.6m including grant funding of £1.6m from the Department for Communities through the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

Among the new residents, who moved into their Clanmill homes at the end of November, is the very excited Herron family.

Following a six-year wait, Anthony and Claire, along with their son Curtis, were delighted to get the keys to their new home, which has been designed and built especially for 16-year old Curtis who uses a wheelchair.

Anthony Herron said the family are delighted to finally have a home that’s suitable for Curtis.

"It means so much to us to finally have a place to call home after we waited for so long," said Anthony.

"We've watched practically every brick being built and we can't quite believe we're finally here. We're really looking forward to spending our first Christmas in our new home and we're so grateful to Clanmil and everyone else involved for making our dreams come true."

Minister for Communities, Gordon Lyons, paid a visit to the Herron family this week and noted the experience was "very uplifiting".

Afterwards, Santa visited some of the younger residents to deliver Christmas treats generously provided by developers Kelly Brothers.

The homes were allocated to people on the social housing waiting list and include three two-bedroom houses, seven three-bedroom houses, one three-bedroom wheelchair accessible bungalow and one two-bedroom wheelchair accessible bungalow.

Constructed to Lifetime Homes standards to ensure they can be adapted if people's needs change over time, the homes also have safety and security features been built into the design and construction, with enhanced lighting and security measures.