Policy Briefing

In November 2020, then Minister for Communities Carál Ní Chuilín committed to reviewing intimidation points: an award of points under the current allocation scheme which provides high priority for rehousing.

Housing Rights welcomes this commitment and shares the Minister’s reservations regarding the proposal, contained in the original 2016 review of the allocation scheme, to remove intimidation points from the scheme without alternative necessary safeguards. 

This briefing paper sets out our position that a blanket removal of these points is too simple a solution for such a complex issue, and would not provide adequate protection to those in crisis whose lives are under threat.

In their 2017 Fundamental Review of Social Housing Allocations, the Department for Communities proposed that the Northern Ireland Housing Executive could meet its statutory duty to provide accommodation to homeless households by offering said households a tenancy in the private rented sector, subject to certain conditions. Given the lack of available social housing, Housing Rights appreciates the need for urgent action to address the growing waiting list for social housing and, in particular, the needs of people who are experiencing homelessness and waiting for unacceptably long periods for a new home. Housing Rights believes however that the sub sector of the private rented sector which would typically be accessible to homeless households provides neither an appropriate nor reasonable response to this problem. This policy briefing explains our position. 

This briefing paper details the ways in which we foresee Covid-19 and associated economic fallout impacting on homelessness and housing in Northern Ireland. It includes measures which we believe Government can take to cushion some of the worst impacts and help vulnerable people at this unique and troubling time.