Political battle looms over NIHE's future

The policy, which was set out in the DUP’s manifesto ahead of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections on 5 May, confirms the party plans to break up the government-owned Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), following years of uncertainty.

The DUP manifesto supports the “transfer of [NIHE] stock to fully utilise assets to make social housing more self-financing”. It is also in favour of separating of the NIHE’s strategic and landlord functions.

However, Sinn Féin, which is expected to remain the second-largest party after the DUP following the election, has said it will oppose any attempt to break up the NIHE and sell the stock to housing associations.

This could spell the potential for a political row over the issue for a future power-sharing administration.

Alex Maskey, Sinn Féin MLA, said the stock should remain in public ownership and that the NIHE should receive greater borrowing powers.

Sinn Féin is expected to announce its manifesto later this month.

Mr Maskey did not rule out supporting transferring stock from the NIHE to other public bodies, such as arm’s-length management organisations (ALMOs), however he said the party’s clear preference was to retain the NIHE in its current form.

The DUP was not able to confirm if it would transfer stock to housing associations specifically.

Lord Maurice Morrow last month said privatising the NIHE is not on the agenda of the current government, which is run under a power-sharing agreement which includes the DUP and Sinn Féin.

In 2013, then-social development minister Nelson McCausland set out his plans to transfer NIHE stock to housing associations. However, a failure to obtain political consensus has led to the plan stalling.