April 2014

Housing Rights Service has advisers working in each of the 3 prisons in Northern Ireland.  A key way to prevent homelessness on release is to secure housing benefit for a prisoner’s existing home.  One of our advisers, Edel, recently had a case where she was able to secure housing benefit for a client on remand, even though he hadn’t had a chance to actually move into the property at the time of his arrest.

A safety lobby group is urging the government to introduce mandatory five-yearly safety checks of electrical installations and appliances in the private rented sector (PRS). Electrical Safety First (ESF) – the charity formerly known as the Electrical Safety Council - believes a UK wide requirement for such safety checks in all private rented homes would reduce confusion around best practice and provide a degree of parity with gas safety, which landlords must check every year.

In today’s economic climate, affordability can be a common reason for persons presenting as homeless. Many private rented tenants are finding it increasingly difficult to find enough money to cover their housing costs; even with the help of Local Housing Allowance.

New research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found that Northern Ireland families have suffered a dramatic drop in their income following the economic downturn.  Overall, almost 400,000 people live in poverty in Northern Ireland.

Household incomes, poverty rates and the labour market have all worsened in Northern Ireland in the last five years - in each case, this deterioration has been greater than in Great Britain (GB).