Northern Irish political deadlock ‘damaging’ housing delivery in country, warns CIH
Housing delivery across Northern Ireland is being hampered by the absence of a formal government in the country, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has warned.
The lack of a functioning executive at Stormont has affected housing delivery, said Justin Cartwright, the CIH’s Northern Ireland director.
Coupled with the cost-of-living crisis and a stuttering UK economy, this was having a lasting detrimental impact, he said, which couldn’t be rectified unless the political impasse is resolved soon.
“The inability to deliver the much-needed new homes has a devastating impact on the tenants and communities that our members serve,” Mr Cartwright said.
“The longer political inaction festers, the [longer] opportunity to increase housing provision for those most in need hangs in the air.”
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Northern Ireland is facing another election to break the political deadlock in the country.
The executive is made up of politicians from Northern Ireland’s largest parties. However, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is blocking the formation of a government, out of protest against the Northern Ireland protocol.
The trade protocol, which was brought in following the Brexit negotiations with the EU, has been a stumbling block since it was agreed in late 2019. Rival parties, including Sinn Féin, have called for government to resume and the DUP to end its opposition to the protocol.
The CIH also warned that housing providers “will struggle to continue to provide the scale of new social and affordable homes needed” without the necessary confirmed funding and progress on breaking down barriers to delivery, adding that this was needed to address the country’s growing housing waiting lists.
Mr Cartwright said: “Delivering new homes at pace and scale goes far beyond simply bricks and mortar. If the sector is unable to deliver much-needed new homes on the scale required, homelessness prevention will be undermined, net-zero housing development will be delayed and the opportunity to provide jobs and apprenticeships to grow our workforce will be squandered.
“This situation is not inevitable. The housing sector needs to see the formation of an executive as a matter of urgency; we need ministers in place who can make crucial decisions that help, not hinder, local housing provision.”
