Northern Ireland Housing Executive starts on more than 1,500 social homes in the north

She said: “In Derry and Strabane, we invested £8.73m on planned maintenance, including stock improvements last year, with a further £5.26m spent on response maintenance.

“We worked hard to support the most vulnerable in our communities, with £9.14m invested through the Supporting People Programme to fund 82 services provided by partner organisations across the district. 

“This investment provided housing support to 1,963 people last year.”

Across the district in 2022-23, 1,305 people who presented as homeless were accepted for support last year. 

Ms Long said the Housing Executive’s focus on prevention and early intervention “will continue with the aim of providing a sustainable model of provision to prevent homelessness”.

She added: “Looking ahead to next year, there is no doubt that we will continue to face challenges. However, we remain fully committed to the objectives set out in our housing investment plan 2023-26.

“We will continue to work with our partners to increase social housing supply, help to address the impact of climate change, invest in our local economy, deliver innovative housing solutions, and involve our customers to ensure they are at the heart of service improvements in our business delivery model.

“Delivery of our housing objectives is key to the social, economic and environmental benefits of Derry and Strabane.

“I am grateful for the partnerships we have built with the local council and look forward to working together further as we deliver against our shared goal of providing better places to live for the people and communities we serve.”