Thousands of NI homes are 'unfit to live in'

A new report from the Housing Executive has revealed that 31,600 homes in Northern Ireland are unfit for habitation.

This number represents around 4.9% of homes across the province, with more expected to fall into disrepair every year.

However the Housing Executive have said the percentage is a vast improvement on figures from 1996, when six years ago the level of unfitness reached a massive 7.3%.

The latest statistics arrive from the 2001 Northern Ireland House Condition Survey. It is the seventh such survey carried out by the Housing Executive since 1974.

Speaking on Friday Housing Executive Chairman, Sid McDowell said: “It is undoubtedly a cause for celebration that today far fewer people live in unfit housing than ever before. This is good news for our community.”

However Mr McDowell underscored the need for sustained investment in order to continue the cycle of yearly improvement.

“Today our duty is not to sit on our laurels and herald our progress, it is to work even harder to ensure that people have access to warm, safe, comfortable homes,” he said.

According to the research, it is estimated that around 150,000 Northern Ireland homes would fail to meet the ‘Decent Home’ standard, which was introduced by the British government in England and Wales in March 2002.

The survey shows that the unfitness level here can be attributed to a backlog of maintenance and improvement work to Housing Executive and housing association homes as the cumulative effects of previous funding shortfalls mount up.

And the review stressed that sustained investment will be needed to build new social housing, to reduce unfitness and to maintain and improve housing conditions in Northern Ireland over the next three years.

In the past 18 months, the waiting list for public housing has increased from 22,000 to 27,000 and there has been a 12% increase in the number of households presenting themselves as homeless during the last year – half of those were single and nearly two-thirds were male.

The review said 1,500 new homes must be built in the social sector each year to meet demand from the waiting list.

Meanwhile, a Sinn Féin delegation scheduled to meet Housing Minister Des Browne, has said that government initiatives – in the form of the draft Housing Bill – fall far short of what is needed to adequately tackle housing and social problems.

Foyle MLA Mary Nelis said: “The draft Housing Bill is at best six or seven years out of date. It will not meet the housing needs of people here.

“Fundamentally, it will not address the inadequate supply of social or public housing. Unchallenged the impact of the draft Bill is likely to be devastating.”

(AMcE)