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PPR have previously highlighted serious concerns around the Department for Social Development’s plans for housing in Northern Ireland in our response to the Facing the Future strategy consultation. We have also contributed a guest post to various blog and news media sites expressing particular concern over any plans by the Department to move away from targeting objective need - a policy commitment in Northern Ireland stretching back over 20 years.

In a recent briefing by the Department to the NI Assembly Social Development Committee, however, it became clear that these concerns have been ignored.

With reference firstly to the Department’s obligation to target need and thus allocate housing on the basis of objective need, a DSD official stated that a process to ‘define’ what objective need is, is underway:

“One of the things that the fundamental review is very actively considering is what objective need is and how we define that. We will want to get a consensus on that and everybody's views of what they consider housing need or housing stress to be.”

PPR are also concerned, given our work to support north Belfast residents campaigning for improved housing conditions, with the Department’s views on fitness standards across different housing tenures such as social housing and the private rented sector. Committee member Mr Fra McCann, MLA put the following question to the Department:

“I have raised this a number of times, but my understanding is that it all operates under one standard. However, the private sector builds to the lowest end of the standard and the social sector to the highest end. Are we talking about relaxing standards for social houses so that they are built to the lower end of the standard?”

The Department responded:

“It is partly relaxing the standard and partly reviewing the fitness standard across all tenures to make it more appropriate. The fitness standard that we work to has been in place for about 30 years and is, perhaps, not the most appropriate.”

PPR encourage the Department to look again at their plans to ensure that the most vulnerable will be protected in accordance with the law.

To read the full Committee briefing please click here.