Transfer of housing functions delayed until 2016

The Minister for Social Development, Mervyn Storey, has announced that the proposed transfer of housing functions from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Department of Social Development to the new councils will not happen until 1st April 2016.

The original Housing and Regeneration Bill proposed a number of housing functions were to be transfered to the 11 new councils from 1st April 2015.  However, due to delays this Bill never materialised.

The housing functions which were to be transferred included:

• Development powers e.g. to acquire land, develop and dispose of land, propose development schemes;
• Powers regarding unfitness and Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) – overseeing the statutory registration scheme for HMOs and making councils responsible for addressing unfitness in all sectors, not just the Private Rented Sector.

New Regeneration Bill

The Minister has stated that, following concerns about the timescale for such a transfer, these housing functions are to be dropped. Instead, they will be introduced in a new Regeneration Bill, which he hopes to introduce to the Assembly as soon as possible, and implement on 1st April 2016.

In a welcomed note, the Minister also announced that consideration of HMO regulation and the housing fitness standard will continue to be worked on outside the remit of the new Bill, so that they can be progressed earlier than the 2016 deadline.