NIHE Consultation opens on Irish Traveller Accommodation Strategy

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) is undertaking a 12-week period external consultation on their draft Irish Traveller Accommodation Strategy 2020-2025.

The Housing Executive’s Strategy will aim to ‘provide Irish Travellers with access to good quality, culturally appropriate housing accommodation which fosters a sustainable, vibrant Traveller community and promotes inclusion, a sense of belonging and security’.

The Housing Executive is seeking feedback under 4 main objectives:

• Objective 1: ‘develop a Traveller Specific Accommodation Needs Assessment’, including reviewing housing application processes, developing ethnic monitoring and record keeping systems and adapting their Housing Needs Assessment methodology.
• Objective 2: ‘provide safe and culturally appropriate accommodation for Irish Travellers to reside and travel to’ including reviewing transit site demand, identifying options for improvement of sites and working with stakeholders.
• Objective 3: ‘support the Irish Traveller community to remain in their accommodation of choice through easily accessible housing services’ including reviewing floating support funds, raising awareness of housing services and highlighting the training needs of staff.
• Objective 4: ‘create mechanisms that foster good relations for the Irish Traveller community’ including introducing proactive measures to ensure safety and wellbeing and expanding strategic partnerships to implement these mechanisms.

These objectives are discussed in more detail in the draft strategy.

The consultation is open until 23^rd September 2020. Consultation response forms further information can be found here.