February 2017

Housing in the 2017 Assembly Election manifestos

28 February 2017

With the Assembly election just days away, we’ve taken a look at the housing content of the main parties’ election manifestos.

Alliance

The Alliance manifesto has 39 pledges on housing, including the following:

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Policy, NI Assembly

Rethinking rehabilitation in the prison system

22 February 2017

A recent report from the Work and Pensions Committee has found the prison rehabilitation system “in desperate need of reform”. The report calls for improvements to be made to the, currently fragmented, support offered to people leaving prison, so that a transition into the community may be as smooth and positive as possible. The report states that currently:

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Minority Groups, Research, Homelessness

Housing Rights Highly Commended at recent CIH awards

22 February 2017

CIH Working Together Award Highly Commended Housing Rights

Housing Rights is delighted to have two of our projects Highly Commended at the Chartered Institute of Housing Awards on the 24 February 2017 in Belfast.

Preventing and Resolving Housing Disputes outside of Court

20 February 2017

‘Resolving Disputes outside of the Court System’ took place at the Inn of Court, Belfast on 15 February. The event was set up in response to the Department for Communities’ Department’s newly published Private Rented Sector in Northern Ireland - Proposals for Change which is currently out for public consultation. The consultation document includes a proposal to: “Examine the

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Outside NI, Private Tenancies, Policy

Report says England’s Right to Rent scheme is “causing racial discrimination” and should be abandoned

14 February 2017

A new report from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) has found that migrants, British citizens without passports and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups living in England are being discriminated against when searching for a home in the Private Rented Sector (PRS), due to the Government’s Right to Rent Scheme.

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Minority Groups, Research, Equality, Landlord

Housing Rights analysis of the latest Housing Bulletin

9 February 2017

The Department for Communities has released the Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin, for 1^st July – 30^th September 2016. The Bulletin demonstrates ongoing trends in several current policy issues, such as homelessness, housing supply and house prices.

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Homelessness

Housing Rights responds to the draft Homelessness Strategy

9 February 2017

Housing Rights has responded to the Housing Executive’s draft Homelessness Strategy for 2017-2022.

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Policy, Homelessness

Considering the proposals for change to the private rented sector in Northern Ireland

8 February 2017

Officials from the Department for Communities attended our Housing Advice Practitioner’s Forum, to elicit feedback from attendees on their proposals for change to the private rented sector in Northern Ireland.

During the meeting, Department officials outlined the main proposals, which relate to the following key areas: