- Belfast Regeneration Office advocates capability building rather than capacity building schemes. Should the Department not concentrate more on capacity building schemes?
Lord Dubs ignored the Oldpark area for the Fuel Poverty scheme in favour of two other areas. What findings came from these schemes, and are these schemes going to be built upon?
- The Department will shortly be making an announcement that will build on work that was done on tackling fuel poverty, which it views as an extremely important issue. Capacity building will also feature strongly in the regeneration strategy and will devote attention to weak community infrastructures.
- Housing has been a huge success story for Northern Ireland and is a key priority for the Committee. It is good that it has been included in the Housing Bill, however, there are still 44,000 slum houses, mostly in the private sector, and 10,000 Housing Executive homes that have not had repairs carried out in twenty-five years. Housing Associations have been given responsibility for New Build schemes and have the capacity to attract the private sector. What is to stop the housing Executive from becoming a Housing Association, moving from the State sector to the same standing as Housing Associations, and attracting the same finance?
The debt the Housing Executive has amassed in bringing the level of unfitness in Northern Ireland down from 27% to 7% works out at £225m per year. That is more than a third of its budget. Is there no way of wiping or phasing out the debt, or finding some other solution to erasing it? The debt will peak in two or three years and the Housing Executive's budget will become even less effective because of it.
- I agree that the level of unfitness is deplorable, and that is why the new Housing Bill makes provision for more flexibility so that specific areas can be targeted for grants. However, it is extremely unlikely that the Treasury would be prepared to wipe out or even phase out the Housing Executive's debt. As for the future role of the Housing Executive, there is a consultation process ongoing at the moment and these issues will certainly be considered when the Government's Green Paper is published in the autumn.
- Are grants and tackling unfitness not going to be seriously undermined because of reductions in the Housing Executive's annual budget?
- The main priority for the Executive's budget is to ensure areas of most need are targeted as best we can, but the point is accepted, and that is why the additional funding of £6m has been particularly welcome. I want to assure the Committee that I am making the strongest possible case for the Social Development budget.
- It's frustrating for the Housing Executive to work up particular schemes only to be told there is no money left to facilitate them. Would it not be better to have more stability in this area and have the Executive told of its precise budget at the start of the year rather than continuously having to bid for more money throughout the year? Then the Executive would be in a position to know what it can and cannot do.
Regarding the Fuel Poverty consultation, there is a need to identify those pensioners most in need of help, for example, the sick and the disabled. Will this be covered in the consultation, and will the Department be considering the possibility of looking again at heating allowances for pensioners? Is Fuel Poverty targeted at areas of greatest disadvantage, or are there substantial funds?
At present there is no choice for tenants in the type of heating put into their homes and, in some cases, the type of heating is wholly unsuitable. Is the Department considering this with a view to meeting the needs of people?
In the case of the Voluntary and Community Sector, in areas where there is weak infrastructure, how is re-targeting going to take place? What criteria will be used to identify the most impoverished areas?
- These are all valid points and will certainly be taken fully into account in the Housing Bill consultation process. The Bill itself is designed to be thoroughly comprehensive and I can assure you that it will include all the areas you referred to, including addressing the role of the Housing Executive and the Housing Associations. However, in the case of heating choices, it may not be possible to afford people a choice of heating due to cost implications, but it may be possible to afford this to certain groups with particular needs.