2 June 2025 

SDLP Communities Spokesperson Daniel McCrossan MLA has said the Executive is failing to address the housing crisis.

He was speaking after Communities Minister Gordon Lyons confirmed that house-building targets for 2025 would be missed.

West Tyrone MLA Mr McCrossan said:

“When the Executive announced their target to build 100,000 homes over 15 years, the SDLP was clear that they were gaslighting the public by plucking this figure from thin air without a clear plan of how it would be delivered. At a time where nearly 50,000 people are on social housing waiting lists and rents are rapidly increasing, this was disingenuous to say the least.

“Make no mistake – we are in the middle of a serious housing crisis that is only going to get worse unless the Executive takes the steps necessary to address it. We appreciate budgetary pressures, but the SDLP brought forward a wide range of proposals in our ‘Building Firm Foundations’ housing policy paper with a clear roadmap to meeting the 100,000 homes target and this was ignored by an Executive and Minister that clearly has no idea how to meet this figure themselves.

“Unless the Executive gets to grips with this issue we are consigning another generation of young people to housing insecurity, unable to save a deposit, left on a waiting list or trying to juggle huge rents with the cost of living. What we need from the Minister is a clear a plan to address this crisis and not false promises that they have to U-turn on after a few months.”