27 October 2025
SDLP Opposition Communities Spokesperson Mark H Durkan MLA has said that a decrease in the grant paid to Housing Associations will result in fewer homes being built across the North.
He was speaking after Communities Minister Gordon Lyons confirmed that the grant will decrease from 54% of the total cost of building a home to 46%.
Mr Durkan questioned the Minister’s failure to engage with the sector before making the decision.
Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan said:
“The Minister has announced this decision without proper consultation with the sector and has utterly failed to articulate how this will lead to the construction of more social homes. Yet again, we are seeing an Executive Minister off on a solo run, convinced they know best despite warnings that this decision could lead to projects collapsing altogether.
“This news is particularly disappointing given the lack of progress in empowering the Housing Executive to build the social homes we need. In stark contrast to an Executive that is missing the housing target set out in its own Programme for Government, Housing Associations are delivering homes in an extremely difficult climate. It’s hard to see how cutting their funding will achieve anything other than fewer homes being built.
“This cut will also impact the ability of Housing Associations to maintain existing properties and could lead to a situation where homes become inhabitable due to a lack of investment. This is the last thing we want to see with our social housing stock under such pressure.
“We are in the middle of a housing crisis that is only getting worse and interventions like this aren’t going to fix it. Ultimately, the Executive and the Communities Minister will be judged on their response to this crisis and they have utterly failed so far.”