Social housing: Targets hit by Stormont budget challenges
Stormont's budget will only fund work on about 1,000 new social houses this year, far short of the Northern Ireland Executive's target.The Programme for Government committed to starting work on at least 5,850 new build social homes by 2027.That equates to about 2,000 new starts per year which would be a big step up compared to the delivery rate of recent years.However, on the basis of the current budget the number of homes started this year will be lower than the 1,504 started last year.
Figures published last month show that in the first quarter of this year 49,083 households in Northern Ireland were on a social housing waiting list.
The Department for Communities, which is the main funder for social housing, has allocated £63m to social housing.It has a total capital budget of about £270m but most of that is already committed to existing projects.The department can bid for additional money through the year in budget reallocation exercises, known as monitoring rounds.A monitoring round is due to be held this month but there is no certainty about how much money will be available or how it will be prioritised.The department would need an additional £62m to keep it on track to hit the Programme for Government target.
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