The difference Housing Rights makes to peoples lives

Our latest impact report looks at the positive impact that Housing Rights work has had on people’s lives.

Between April 2016 and March 2017, we gave 11,513 people advice and support for their housing problems. This past year we have made further efforts to discover the impact of our work on the people we help. We have found

• 9 in 10 had the information they needed to make informed housing decisions
• 9 in 10 know where to go for help in the future
• 9 in 10 feel less stressed about their housing situation
• 2 in 3 have been able to stay in their homes
• 9 in 10 feel better able to meet their housing costs
• 9 in 10 feel they have a better quality of life

We helped those 11,513 people with 42,804 housing issues. We also estimate that we have saved the public purse £17,744,090 in this year.

Housing Rights wants every home in Northern Ireland to be safe, suitable and affordable. We continue to work hard to achieve this through our advice, advocacy and legal services, and our policy training and information.  

Helping through advice, advocacy and legal services

Our housing advice helpline and advice website offer information and advice to members of the public and other advice practitioners. Dedicated case workers take on more complex housing cases.

We represent members of the public at court and liaise with statutory bodies on their behalf.

We also offer specialist advice to those people under threat of repossession. We work with social landlords to provide a debt counselling service for tenants in arrears.

Helping through prisons

We deliver an advice and casework service in prisons to help prevent homelessness. We train prisoners to become Peer Housing Advisers. We also work intensively with people being released from prison to help them access and sustain accommodation that can help reduce offending rates.

Helping through policy

Our policy team listens to the concerns people have about housing in Northern Ireland and makes sure that these voices are heard by the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Housing Executive and other decision making bodies.

Our policy team is committed to trying to improve standards and practices in housing in Northern Ireland by making people aware of our clients’ experiences. 

Helping through training

We provide an innovative range of training courses on housing and welfare related issues, responding to the sector’s training needs. We also produce specialist legal information such as Housing Law in Practice NI and our range of Professional Resources, in plain English for the public, frontline advice agencies, statutory bodies and private organisations.