Alex Easton MLA has today called for more Social housing to be built.

Speaking today Alex Easton MLA said:

“I am deeply concerned to see that from figures released under a NI Assembly question show that the number of homelessness presenters to the Housing Executive for the North Down & Ards area for 2015/16 stands at an incredible 946 people. This is a startling figure that we have for the Ards & North Down area.”

“It is quite clear that we do not have enough social housing in place to deal with the amount of people that are currently registered as homeless, and the only sure way to tackle this issue is to build more social housing through Housing Associations. I was delighted to have visited the new homes that are currently going out on offer from FOLD in Rathgill and this will hopefully alleviate some of the current homeless figures. However there needs to be concerted plans put in place to places it is quite clear there are just not enough homes being built”.

Ends:

________________________________________ From: assembly.questions@niassembly.gov.uk [assembly.questions@niassembly.gov.uk] Sent: 21 October 2016 15:57 To: Easton, Alex Subject: Written Answer AQW 4888/16-21 – Homeless in North Down To ask the Minister for Communities how many people are recorded as homeless in North Down. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) has advised that homelessness data is recorded by the local NIHE office to which a household presents as homeless. The information provided is for the North Down and Ards council area by a process of combining the data for Newtownards and Bangor local NIHE offices. The Housing Executive has advised that the number of homelessness presenters in North Down & Ards in 2015/16 was 1,408 of which 946 were accepted by the Housing Executive as full duty housing applicants.