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Affordable rental scheme homes to be available within weeks

John CampbellEconomics and business editor, BBC News NI
Getty Images Row of houses with cream walls and orange bricks.Getty Images
Over 50,000 households are on the social housing waiting list in NI

The first homes built under a new Stormont-backed affordable rental scheme will be available within weeks, the Communities Minister has announced.

The "intermediate rent" housing will offer rents at 20% below the market rate to help people on lower incomes who earn too much to qualify for social housing.

The first of the 300 houses are in Dungannon with further schemes due this financial year in Newry, Craigavon, Lisburn and Londonderry.

The minister, Gordon Lyons, said the new scheme had "the potential to be truly transformational".

Northern Ireland is in the grip of a housing crisis with the number of households on the social housing waiting list passing 50,000 earlier this year.

The number of households on the waiting list has risen by more than 30% over the last decade.

Competition for housing is also adding to community tensions as asylum hotels have been closed and people are moved into houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

A root cause of the problem is a lack of new supply in both private and social housing.

Lyons has developed a housing supply strategy of which affordable rent is one element.

Eligibility for an affordable rental property will be income-based and those eligible will be able to apply for the houses once advertised.

To qualify a single adult household must have an annual income of less than £30,000 and less than £40,000 for two-adult households.

Map of NI with Dungannon, Craigavon, Londonderry Lisburn and Newry highlighted.
The homes will be available in various parts of NI

How is this funded?

The building work is being largely funded through £61m of government spending known as Financial Transactions Capital (FTC.)

Stormont departments cannot spend FTC directly but instead have to loan it to private sector organisations such as universities or housing associations.

These conditions mean departments have often struggled to spend the money and have handed it back to the UK Treasury.

PA Media Gordon speaking. He is wearing a navy suit, burgundy tie and a white shirt.PA Media
Gordon Lyons said the scheme could be "transformational"

In this case the Department for Communities is loaning the money to Maple and May, the development arm of Choice housing association.

Lyons said the use of FTC funding for these scheme was not taking grant funding away from conventional social housing development.

"Over time, as we increase the number of homes for affordable rent, it will reduce pressure on the social housing waiting list," he added.