Assembly Roundup: December 2016

Standards

To ask the Minister for Communities to detail how many cases of damp have been reported to the Housing Executive, over the past four years. Mr Alex Easton, Democratic Unionist Party AQW 7498/16-21

The Housing Executive has advised that 25,150 cases of damp have been reported to it during the period from 1 November 2012 to 31 October 2016.

Immigration

To ask the Minister for Communities for his assessment on Schedule 11 of the Immigration Act 2016; and its implications for Northern Ireland. Mr Mike Nesbitt, Ulster Unionist Party AQW 7420/16-21

I should explain that while the housing entitlement of non-British citizens is an excepted matter under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and therefore lies outside my Department’s remit, the Housing Executive has a contractual arrangement with the Home Office to provide accommodation for asylum seekers while their claims or appeals are being considered. The Home Secretary also has power under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 to make arrangements with housing providers for the provision of temporary accommodation for persons whose claims for asylum have been refused.

Paragraph 3A of Schedule 2 to the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 provides that persons placed in accommodation provided by the Housing Executive under arrangements made with the Home Office, including arrangements made under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, are not secure tenants of the Executive. When Schedule 11 to the Immigration Act 2016 comes into operation it will repeal section 4 and create a new power for the Home Secretary to support failed asylum seekers and their dependants if they can demonstrate that they are destitute and that they face a genuine obstacle to leaving the UK at the point their appeal rights are exhausted. Consequential to the repeal of section 4, paragraph 2(b)(ii) of Schedule 11 to the Immigration Act 2016 provides for an amendment to paragraph 3A of Schedule 2 to the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 that would remove the redundant reference to section 4. The provision in paragraph 3A that a tenancy is not a secure tenancy will continue to apply to any accommodation provided under the Home Secretary’s powers to support asylum seekers and failed asylum seekers.

In the circumstances, Schedule 11 to the Immigration Act 2016 has no significant implications for those housing matters that are transferred to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Welfare reform

To ask the Minister for Communities for an update on the implementation of Welfare Reform. Mr Andy Allen, Ulster Unionist Party AQO 833/16-21

Substantial and very real progress has been made over the last year on the implementation of Welfare Reform. As the Member may be aware, the Welfare Reform and Work (Northern Ireland) Order 2016 received Royal Assent on 12 October 2016. This means that all the Primary legislation needed to implement Welfare Reform in Northern Ireland is now in place.
A number of the bigger Welfare Reforms, including Personal Independence Payments and the Benefit Cap have already been successfully introduced.

The new Finance Support Service went live last week. Its telephone application process allows customers to access the service at a time and place that suits them. Providing an immediate response to urgent financial need. The time limiting of contributory Employment Support Allowance also came into effect last week.

Detailed timetables are in place to ensure that the outstanding welfare reforms will commence over the next ten month period, culminating in the introduction of Universal Credit from September 2017.

Equally significant progress has been made in ensuring that the mitigation schemes recommended by the Evason Working Group following the Fresh Start Agreement are in place. These payments are designed to provide additional financial support for vulnerable families (both in and out of work) who will be impacted by the introduction of welfare changes. An estimated 15,000 claimants will be receiving Welfare Supplementary Payments by March 2017.

Homelessness

To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the cost to Housing Executive to provide temporary housing over the last two year period. Mr Alex Easton, Democratic Unionist Party AQW 7497/16-21

The Table below includes the cost to the Housing Executive to provide temporary housing over the last two year period.

To ask the Minister for Communities pursuant to AQW 6284/16-21, to outline any proactive action he is taking to reduce the number of families with children presented to the NIHE as homeless. Mr Roy Beggs, Ulster Unionist Party AQW 6911/16-21

For 2016/17, over £35 million pounds has been made available to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to work with the voluntary sector to prevent homelessness and to provide vital support to those people, including those with families, who find themselves facing homelessness.

The Housing Executive has advised me that it currently provides funding for 27 accommodation based and 8 floating supporting schemes for homeless families with children at a cost of 4.7 million pounds per annum. These schemes are delivered by 11 service providers (including the Housing Executive) and provide a total of 858 units for homeless families with children throughout Northern Ireland.

In the draft Programme for Government (PfG) I have committed to a number of proactive actions to tackle homelessness including for those with families. These include building 9,600 new social homes, supporting 3,750 first-time buyers to purchase a new home and ensuring that the private rented sector is a good housing option for everyone including families.

In addition this year I am investing almost £1 million in housing advice services for mortgage debt and other housing advice.

The Housing Executive seeks to take proactive action in reducing the number of families with children who present as homeless to them through a number of different measures. The current Homelessness Strategy deals with a range of client groups, including families, while the Housing Options approach currently being piloted by the Housing Executive seeks to assist families in preventing the need to present as homeless and find sustainable housing solutions.

Private rented sector

To ask the Minister for Communities to outline (i) the progress of his Department’s Review of the Role and Regulation of the Private Rented Sector; and (ii) whether the Review recommends mandatory electrical checks on Landlord’s property during transitions in tenancy. Mr Stewart Dickson, Alliance Party AQW 8911/16-21

A set of proposals for change resulting from the Review of the Role and Regulation of the Private Rented Sector will be published for consultation in January 2017.
The standard of properties, including electrical safety checks, is within the scope of the review.

To ask the Minister for Communities whether there are any plans to introduce a minimum energy efficiency standard for the private rented housing sector. Mr Steven Agnew, Green Party AQW 8658/16-21

My Department is currently carrying out a review of the role and regulation of the private rented sector. The standard of properties, including plans to introduce a minimum energy efficiency standard for the private rented housing sector, is within the scope of the review. Proposals for change resulting from the review will be published for consultation in January 2017.

To ask the Minister for Communities whether he plans to introduce legislation to require landlords of residential rental properties experiencing damp to take remedial action to alleviate this issue, in line with other parts of the United Kingdom. Mrs Pam Cameron, Democratic Unionist Party AQW 8649/16-21

There are no plans to introduce legislation specifically regarding this issue however the Department is aware that council environmental health officers give advice to both landlords and tenants on the prevention of damp.

The housing fitness standard, which sets the minimum condition which all dwellings must meet to be considered fit for human habitation, requires that every dwelling must be free from dampness prejudicial to the health of the occupant.  Legislation provides powers for councils to intervene in private rented properties to address this.

Social housing

To ask the Minister for Communities to detail how many homes he plans to build that are adapted for people with disabilities by March 2021. Mrs Jenny Palmer, Ulster Unionist Party AQW 8614/16-21 

Information relating to plans for homes that are adapted for people with disabilities is only available for the current programme year as the Social Housing Development Programme (SHDP) is formulated on a 3-year basis and the housing mixes are not currently finalised for future years.

There are currently 102 Wheelchair Standard social housing units under construction as part of the SHDP with a further 43 units programmed to start in 2016/17.

To increase the provision of wheelchair standard accommodation and address the current waiting list, my Department has recently introduced new wheelchair design housing standards which came into effect from November 2016 and will be fully introduced as part of the Social Housing Development Programme from next year.  Housing Associations will be encouraged to include more generic wheelchair units within their new build housing schemes to meet demand.

To ask the Minister for Communities to detail how many people currently on the NIHE waiting list are registered as disabled. Mrs Jenny Palmer, Ulster Unionist Party AQW 8613/16-21 

The Housing Executive has advised that information such as whether or not an applicant is registered as disabled is not held.

However, there are some indicators which may highlight if an applicant or a member of the applicant’s household may have a disability. The indicators are;

• The Wheelchair user indicator;
• Health & Social Wellbeing indicator;
• Complex Needs indicator; and
• The Functionality Matrix indicator.

The waiting list as at 30 September 2016 for applicants with these indicators totals 13,866.

To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the average waiting time for an individual on the NIHE waiting list, broken down by (i) Northern Ireland as a whole; and (ii) constituency, over the past five years. Mrs Jenny Palmer, Ulster Unionist Party AQW 8528/16-21

The Housing Executive has advised that when a question of “average waiting time” is asked MEAN and MEDIAN averages are provided. They have also advised that archive data is only available for the last 3 years.

The table below details the average waiting time for Northern Ireland over the last 3 years.
(ii) The table below details the average waiting time broken down by constituency over the last 3 years.

Fuel poverty

To ask the Minister for Communities to outline any discussions he has had with the Housing Executive to carry out an up-to-date survey providing updated figures for fuel poverty in each council area. Mr Oliver McMullan, Sinn Féin AQW 8341/16-21 

The level of fuel poverty is measured by the NI Housing Executive through the Northern Ireland House Condition Survey which is currently being conducted and is expected to report in Autumn 2017.
The House Condition Survey will provide data to update key measures in relation to the current housing stock. This data will include updated figures for fuel poverty at council level.