Housebuilding needs to be ramped up in Derry so people can live in own community, says Ferguson
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00:00 Again, I would like to raise the critical issue that is significantly impacting on families in
00:04 Derry, West Tyrone and other areas, and that's the accessibility to social and affordable homes.
00:09 Just last week, the Chartered Surveyor's report indicated a continued rise in house buyer
00:15 inquiries and increasing house prices across the north. Yet, as we see the statistics, at least
00:21 46,500 households on the social housing waiting list, 34,500 of those deemed to be living in
00:29 dire need and over 26,000 of those are staturably homeless. Behind those statistics are tens of
00:36 thousands of people unable to access housing and they are living each day with uncertainty and
00:43 anxiety of homelessness. Back in November 2020, Carol McCullohan outlined on behalf of Sinn Féin
00:49 a vision and a plan for housing with emphasis on the urgent need for revitalisation of our housing
00:55 executive to enable our largest social housing landlord to start building again at scale.
01:01 We consulted on the housing supply strategy, which advocated the building of well over 100,000
01:07 plus homes over the next 15 years, including 33,000 social homes in both our urban and rural
01:13 communities across the north. Additionally, the same way we delivered the Private Tenancy Act,
01:18 it was the first package of reform for the private rented sector to enhance the safety and security
01:24 of renters. Now we must continue to work to enhance standards, deliver affordable rents and
01:29 enhance security of housing, including consideration for tenancies of indefinite duration.
01:35 We now want to see real delivery for people in these areas and a focus on supporting our
01:42 struggling homeowners and renters alike, alongside the prioritisation of ending long-term homelessness
01:47 within our society. This should include the delivery of multi-annual budgeting and expanding
01:54 homelessness services, including Housing First and projects such as Complex Lives in the north-west.
01:59 House-building projects must target areas such as Derry, where housing need is the greatest,
02:05 so that people who have been fuelled by the provision of housing for decades
02:09 have the opportunity to live in their communities. I am asking the Minister for Communities to
02:14 urgently publish the housing supply strategy and for cross-departmental collaboration
02:19 with the support of our four-party coalition here and the Opposition on the prioritisation of
02:24 housing. The British Government need to get serious about the investment it must provide to our
02:30 public services. This requires a new level of serious engagement on the insurances around
02:36 securing the additional funding that is required for the housing executive to not just maintain
02:41 its current stock but, crucially, to remove the historical debt and begin bringing new,
02:46 social and affordable homes to meet the level of need across all our communities.
02:50 Thank you.