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Charity in Northern Ireland reveals plans to ramp up house purchases to tackle homelessness
A charity in Northern Ireland has revealed plans to buy up “significantly” more homes as it looks to ramp up its efforts to tackle homelessness.
Belfast-based Simon Community set out the ‘Doing Things Differently’ strategy for expanding its work over the next five years.
This included growing the charity’s Creating Homes programme, which has seen it buy 17 properties to date.
The charity said it plans to “scale this up significantly” alongside developing a socially responsible model for private landlords.
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Jim Dennison, chief executive of Simon Community, said: “Northern Ireland is in the midst of a housing and homelessness crisis.
“With a shocking one in 34 people in Northern Ireland legally classified as homeless – including 4,500 children – and over 86,000 individuals on the social housing waiting list, the scale of the problem is genuinely staggering.
“Behind these numbers are real people with hopes and dreams. The time to act is now.”
Alongside providing more permanent housing solutions, the charity said it would increase support for those at risk of losing their home. Plans include community engagement, a support line, a tenancy sustainment scheme and emergency financial interventions.
It will also work to improve access to and quality of temporary accommodation as well as to reduce the average length of stay there.
Other measures include investing in its own workforce and improving governance, as well as building volunteer and partner networks in the devolved nation.
Simon Community has called for politicians, policymakers, funders, church leaders and corporate partners to work together with a renewed commitment to ending homelessness in Northern Ireland.
In response, a Department for Communities (DfC) spokesperson said: “The minister has outlined his ambition to prioritise prevention of homelessness, working with the NIHE and the sector to ensure that homelessness is rare, brief and non-recurrent.
“The minister recognises that it will take time – and a collective effort – to achieve this ambition, particularly given the ongoing cost of providing temporary accommodation, which is increasing for a range of reasons.
“However, the short-term focus must continue to be supporting those currently in crisis.
“Alongside this, the department has taken forward a broad range of initiatives to address the wider issue of housing provision and need. This includes building more social houses, funding more affordable homes and also improving protections for tenants.”
The DfC said this work is being undertaken at all levels of government, alongside stakeholders, statutory organisations and residents.
New Northern Ireland communities minister Gordon Lyons recently said he would have a strategic focus on “big issues like housing” so that people “can have access to safe, warm and affordable homes”.
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