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Durkan: North on the brink of a housing crisis

SDLP Welfare spokesperson Mark H Durkan has said the Executive must stop sleepwalking behind the Tories and push for greater flexibility on the reckless changes to Housing Benefit which are to be introduced in Northern Ireland.

Wed 22nd February

The Foyle MLA said: “The proposed Tory cuts to Housing Benefit will cause widespread social upheaval and hardship with increased levels of homelessness. In a region where over 10,000 people are already homeless, these imminent changes are extremely worrying and the Executive must wake up to this fact and argue for greater legal and operational flexibility for the people of the North.

“Reductions in housing benefit will force many people, particularly those below 35, into shared housing as people will simply not be able to afford the rent levels set by private landlords, and with a severe shortage in social housing twinned with less money being invested by the Housing Minister in new build projects, we are on the brink of a housing crisis. 

“The Housing Minister seems to think that private landlords, many of whom are in negative equity on their properties, are going to simply reduce rent levels to mirror the reduced Housing Benefit provision but this is simply not the case.

“This will have a detrimental impact on many families including those in receipt of social housing and those with a second property who depend on the rental yield to cover mortgages on their properties from tenants receiving Housing Benefit. Unless decisive action is taken, the number of house repossessions will continue to soar and hostel queues will grow, leading to a lot of distress for people, particularly children.

“These changes are particularly going to hit hard our young people, who have little job prospects here at present, and are set to lose, on average, £29 per week in Housing Benefit.

“It is vital that the Social Development Minister makes monies available to ensure that hardship payments are made available to tenants who have encountered these cuts for as long as rents remain high.

“Although the unionist and Alliance parties voted down an SDLP Assembly motion on Monday to address this ‘unfair’ reform, we appeal to them to realise the negative ramifications of these changes on the vulnerable people who they represent and push for greater financial support from the Coalition Government to mitigate the impact of these cuts and changes which are set to be imposed on Northern Ireland.”

Mark H Durkan

Mark H Durkan MLA

Email markh.durkan@mla.niassembly.gov.uk
Tel 028 7136 5516

Press Office

Tel 028 90 52 1837

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