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More than 6,000 social homes needed in Belfast in four years, says NIHE
More than 6,000 social homes need to be built in Belfast over the next four years, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) has assessed.
According to its Belfast housing investment plan (HIP) 2022 annual update, which sets out investment progress and plans for the local area, 6,012 social homes will need to be built to keep up with targets.
The NIHE creates HIPs for each council every four years, setting out investment programmes and social housing need.
It has assessed that between 2021 and 2026, Belfast needs 6,125 new social homes.
However, only 113 social homes were completed during 2021-22 in the area.
The low figure was put down to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the construction sector.
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The update for Belfast for 2022 was presented at a city council meeting earlier this month.
It revealed that £77.24m was invested in new build accommodation in the city, which saw 433 social homes started during 2021-22.
A total of 1,784 new social homes were under construction as of March 2022.
On the HIP, Grainia Long, chief executive of the NIHE, said: “In Belfast last year we invested £26.73m on planned maintenance including stock improvements and a further £20.54m on response maintenance.
“We provided £460,000 in grant funding to support local groups in the Belfast region, across several funding streams, including our community grants, community safety, areas at risk and community cohesion programmes.”
In total, the NIHE invested £195m in its homes in Northern Ireland in 2021-22, the highest level in 14 years.
The update also includes figures on demand for social housing and homelessness services throughout the city.
There were 12,237 applicants for social housing in Belfast as of March 2022, of whom 9,307 were in housing stress, and allocations for the year were 1,558.
Ms Long said: “In terms of homelessness, there were 4,553 homelessness presentations last year, with 2,820 homelessness acceptances.
“A strategic shift in favour of homeless prevention and early intervention is critical if we’re to provide a sustainable model of provision to prevent homelessness.”
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