Serious questions for the Department for communities and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive today on the NI Audit Office Report regarding homelessness.
Recent figures highlight that 59,518 individuals experience homelessness which includes over 18,000 children which is an absolute disgrace and serious failure from government while the existing structures are not fit for purpose.
The need for more new builds and housing first is essential on dealing with this emergency and we need to stop making excuses on why we cannot build new homes due to infrastructure, how can we build over 5,000 new accommodation properties in Belfast for students but cannot build 5,000 new social homes in the last year?
The department for communities need to urgently consider the ability for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to deal with the issue of homelessness as the continued failure is having a detrimental impact on thousands of people and families. The need for prevention and a strategic approach that has meaningful change is urgently needed, this is no longer a crisis, this is an emergency.
Political failure, current existing structures that are not working and an organisation that has continued to show they have not got the ability to deal with this serious issue is the part of the problem. Those represented on news outlets tonight are funded by this organisation and do not give a true reflection of this serious situation.
We no longer need to talk about this issue, we need to see action!
