You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Four new board members appointed at Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith has appointed four new board members to the region’s housing authority.
Councillors Allan Bresland, Catherine Elattar and Michael Ruane joined the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) board yesterday, as well as alderman Amanda Grehan.
Northern Ireland ministers at Stormont would normally make these appointments, but the region has been without a functioning government since January 2017.
New legislation was passed at Westminster last year, allowing the UK government to make public appointments to bodies such as the NIHE board.
READ MORE
The NIHE owns around 86,500 social homes and has responsibility for statutory housing functions such as allocations, homelessness services and distributing grant to housing associations.
It was established in 1971, taking over the housing responsibilities of 65 different authorities.
The body is suffering from a funding crisis, and has warned that it may start “de-investing” in around half of its huge housing stock from this year if a solution is not found – risking tens of thousands of homes falling into disrepair.
Mr Bresland is a DUP councillor on Derry and Strabane Council and former Northern Ireland assembly member.
Ms Elattar and Mr Ruane are both Sinn Féin councillors, on Mid Ulster and Newry, Mourne and Down councils respectively. Ms Elattar, a midwife, was on the NIHE board from June 2015 to May 2019.
Ms Grehan is an Alliance party councillor who was previously deputy mayor of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council.
The new board members will remain in place until the date of the next council elections.
Sign up for our monthly Housing Moves newsletter
Already have an account? Click here to manage your newsletters
