Northern Ireland Housing Executive completes first homes in 25 years

In 2017, the NIHE announced that it had plans to start building new social homes again.

Between 1975 and 1996, it built more than 80,000 homes, but has not developed at any scale since 2001-02, when housing associations became the main providers of new social housing in the region.

The Housing Executive is aiming to undergo a restructure in the next few years. Plans for the change, which have been in the works for years, were officially announced by ministers in November 2020. 

The main change will focus on borrowing. Among other benefits, it would allow the landlord to scale up development. 

Earlier this week, communities minister Gordon Lyons, who visited the new homes on Thursday, said a restructure – or “revitalisation” – of the Housing Executive, would be a “game-changer” in terms of increasing housing supply.

Maurice Bradley, a Democratic Unionist Party MLA, submitted a question to the minister, asking what he believes to be the “most important actions, especially on water and sewage infrastructure”, that can be taken to improve supply across the regions of Northern Ireland. 

Mr Lyons said in the private sector, we “absolutely need to look at availability of land, at planning and at water infrastructure”.

But Mr Lyons said: “One of the single most important things that we can do, however, is to see the change that is required to the Housing Executive’s borrowing powers come about. 

“‘Game-changer’ is used all too often in this place often inappropriately, but the revitalisation of the Housing Executive programme would truly be a game-changer for housing supply in Northern Ireland, significantly changing our ability to build the houses that we so desperately require in Northern Ireland and bringing us into line with housing associations in, for example, England and Wales.”

He said he has had conversations about that with the finance minister and other executive colleagues, and believes that the “necessary support exists for us to get those changes made and to get agreement from the Treasury”.

On the six new homes delivered by the NIHE, Mr Lyons said: “This is not just the Housing Executive delivering new homes, it is the Housing Executive leading and innovating for Northern Ireland. 

“The modern methods of construction approach and the Passivhaus standard that NIHE has achieved will together bring learning for the whole social housing sector here.  

“I commend all those involved in this development and wish the residents every happiness in their new homes.”

Nicole Lappin, chair of the Housing Executive, said: “As the strategic housing authority for Northern Ireland, it is our role to influence the future of social housing, and with Sunningdale we are demonstrating what estates and housing developments can look like in the years to come.

“At the outset of this pilot project our aim was not just to build new homes for our tenants for the first time in a generation but to build future-proofed homes with energy-efficient measures that will stand the test of time.

“The ultra-low energy building methods used to construct these houses means that our tenants will now benefit from improved energy efficiency and a reduction in carbon emissions, lower heating bills, savings from reduced fuel costs and more comfortable homes.”