Paddy Gray's 3 wishes

Paddy Gray is Professor of Housing in the School of the Built Environment of the University of Ulster. He is an established academic and is a leading authority on housing in the UK and Ireland. Below he describes what he would ask for if granted three wishes by the Housing Genie.

1. Inclusive social housing

My first wish has to be that we could remove the stigma attached to social housing. When I grew up in Armagh, mixed income families lived side by side in a small prefab estate called Daire’s Willows. We loved the place and we had such happy times. We were from the lower income end but this never affected our interaction with other children and mixed income areas really work!

2. Working together to provide decent living standards

My second wish would be that social housing providers did not have to compete and that everyone worked together for the good of all the people. I recently attended Liverpool Pride and social housing providers and managers from across the city came out wearing the same t-shirt: ‘Homes for All’. Let's all work together to provide decent living standards.

3. Community investment and ownership in housing

My third wish would be that every person in Northern Ireland would contribute £1 per month towards housing supply. That would be around £20 million per year invested in our communities. Everyone could then have a lifetime claim that they are improving their fellow citizens. Think of the sense of well being at very little individual cost.