A look at the latest housing statistics

The latest NI Housing Statistics for 2014-15 have been released. They look at a range of topics including the figures for the supply of housing, social rented, private rented and owner occupied accommodation.

Homelessness increases again

One of the key areas of our work is assisting those who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. During 2014/15 homelessness queries amounted to 18% of all issues dealt with on our advice line.

According to the Housing Statistics, 19,621 households presented to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) for homelessness assistance. This was a 4% increase on the previous year. The biggest single group of people who present as homeless continues to be single males (35%) and most of them were between the ages of 26 and 59.

The demand for social housing shows no signs of relenting. The total number of applicants on the waiting list was 39,338. Of these, 22,097 were in ‘housing stress’, i.e. they had been awarded 30 or more points under the common selection scheme.

Reasons for homelessness

The most common reasons recorded for presenting as homeless are:

• Loss of rented accommodation (11% increase)
• Sharing breakdown/family dispute (10% increase)
• Accommodation not reasonable (15% increase).

These have continued to be the main reasons for the last 10 years. Whilst still worrying for the individuals and households involved and society as a whole, it is pleasing to note the 11% decrease in the number of people presenting as homeless as a consequence of intimidation.

Supply and demand of housing

At our recent Private Rented Sector conference, ‘Fit for the Future?’, a common theme was the lack of houses being built to meet the housing needs of the population at large. This has resulted in increased demands being made on the private rented sector to accommodate households that traditionally would not have lived in that sector. 21% of all households in NI now live in the private rented sector; with a growing number of families and low income households making up the numbers.

Despite the fact that the statistics show a year-on-year increase in the volume of housing stock, there are still not enough social rented homes being built to meet the demand. With reduced public resources and the house sales scheme continuing to deplete the social stock, there is a need to find alternative solutions. One option is to make improvements to the private rented sector to make it a genuine sector of choice for many of those who are waiting on social housing. Some of the possible areas for improvement were examined at our conference and are included in the pre-consultation discussion document on the Review of the Role and Regulation of the Private Rented Sector:

• Longer security of tenure, when appropriate
• Tackling unfitness and energy issues in the sector
• Protecting tenants’ deposits and ensuring greater enforcement were failures occur
• Looking at innovative ways of increasing the volume of private rented housing
• Banning letting fees, to make private rented more affordable at the outset.

Housing Advice Practitioners’ Forum

The review of the private rented sector has just begun. This is a great opportunity to help shape the private rented sector to meet the changing face of housing in NI. Deadline for responses to the pre-consultation is 5th February 2015. Housing Rights will be holding a Housing Advice Practitioners’ Forum on 30th November at 2.30pm. If you are a member of Housing Rights and would like to come along to hear about the review at first hand from the Department for Social Development, please confirm with Sharon Geary, or phone 028 9024 5640.