NIHE publishes response to proposed housing budget

Whilst the Housing Executive is acutely aware of the strategic public finance challenges for Northern Ireland and, in particular, the financial constraints facing the Department for Communities, the housing body is warning that proposed budget cuts to the new build programme, homelessness prevention and home energy grants will have most impact on those in most need.

The response notes that the draft budget poses significant risks for a number of strategic programmes and services, both delivered by the Housing Executive or in partnership with organisations across the housing sector.

It will lead to cuts in services, as early as October 2024:

• The level of funding for homelessness services is insufficient to meet statutory obligations to provide temporary accommodation based on projected demand.  
• Wraparound and prevention homeless services, currently provided by voluntary and community organisations, will have to be greatly reduced.
• The Social Housing Development Programme will only be able to deliver circa 400 new social homes in 2024/25, significantly below the target of 2,000.  This is the largest projected drop in social housing output of its kind in a generation at a time when housing need is at its most acute.  More households will therefore be waiting longer for permanent housing, and many will have to remain in expensive temporary accommodation.
• The proposed budget means a significant reduction of £6.8m for the Affordable Warmth Scheme, resulting in a 53% cut in the number of households in fuel poverty (1,465) availing of the scheme compared with 2023/24. 
• The indicative allocation of £80.7m (including additional £4.8m (expected to be non-recurring)) for Supporting People, prevents the full roll out of the Supporting People Strategy and the Providers Innovation Fund.  
• The Fundamental Review of Allocations, which is aimed at creating a more effective and efficient system of allocating housing, faces significant funding uncertainty, as there is currently no budget set aside for this programme.  
• The Housing Executive’s bid to meet staff costs for the provision of Strategic Housing Authority services and programmes was not met.  As the Housing Executive is currently carrying considerable vacancies in some teams, most obviously in our Housing Solutions Team, this reduction in allocation for housing staff will impact on our ability to provide homelessness services, management and oversight of the Supporting People Programme and other critical services/It is also likely that the Housing Executive’s Out of Hours Service will be adversely impacted, leading to closure or reduction in service.  
• The allocated budget does not allow for contingency planning for emergency situations which could lead to increases in homelessness, e.g. extreme weather events.  This is a significant concern.
• The allocated budget for homelessness does not reflect rising demand for temporary accommodation due to the recent increase in the number of households being awarded refugee status and requiring housing in Northern Ireland. 
• The ability to financially plan or invest in housing services and programmes in the medium to long term – particularly in an environment of growing demand for critical services and housing need – is severely limited.
• The ability to enable systemic change to housing services and housing supply is greatly undermined, and this will have a material impact on our ability to commence work delivering a future Housing Strategy for Northern Ireland.   

As the Housing Executive administers capital programmes such as social housing new build and private sector grants and delivers and funds services to some of the most vulnerable people in our society, any funding shortfall will have adverse impacts right across our society and therefore on many of the Section 75 equality groups.  In summary, any reduction in the housing budget equates to a reduction in our ability to address the housing inequalities as well as health, social and economic inequalities that exist in Northern Ireland. 

The full response is available here: