Integrated housing project launched in County Fermanagh

A new mixed public housing estate built in County Fermanagh, could be as “mould-breaking” as the first integrated school – Lagan College was 25-years-ago, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Peter Hain has today said.

20 families from both Catholic and Protestant backgrounds moved into the first integrated social housing project in Carran Crescent in Enniskillen, in what is hoped to be a benchmark for the future.

Commenting on the project, Peter Hain said: "Hopefully people will realise through Carran Crescent, through integrated schools like Lagan College, through the resumption of power sharing, that Northern Ireland's future lies in the two communities having a shared future together.”

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive spent £2 million on building the Carran Crescent development, which has been designed to give families who apply for social housing the chance to live in a mixed neighbourhood.

Before moving into the new Carran Crescent development, residents signed up to a special charter banning partisan murals, graffiti, painted kerbstones flags and emblems in the area.

A second mixed housing development is now being planned for Loughbrickland in County Down and several other sites, including one in Belfast, are also being considered for similar housing projects in the future.

A spokesperson for the Housing Executive said that the homes are being built in such a way as to enable the community to flourish, for example they are built close to an integrated school and added that "above all, the Carran Crescent project is about people from different backgrounds living side by side in mutual respect."

(EF)