A draft housing supply strategy for Northern Ireland will be brought to the Executive very shortly, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has said.
Mr Lyons also told MLAs that a crisis in infrastructure provision for sewage disposal is currently a “drag on our our ability to have the homes that we need”.
During ministerial question time in the Assembly, Mr Lyons was asked by Sinn Fein MLA Colm Gildernew what actions he is taking to ensure the urgent publication of the strategy.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons was asked at Stormont about when he would bring forward a housing strategy (Liam McBurney/PA)
Mr Lyons responded: “I have been meeting Executive colleagues who have a key strategic remit around housing supply to garner support for full implementation.
“I have a couple more engagements that I would like to have with other Executive ministers before this can be concluded, but I am finalising the strategy to bring it to the Executive very shortly.
“Of course, publication and implementation of the strategy will be dependent on Executive approval, and project structures remain in place to allow implementation of action planning to proceed once approval has been given.”
SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone said unless a “crisis in infrastructural provision for sewage disposal” was properly addressed, the strategy would be “more or less an academic exercise”.
The minister responded: “It is certainly an issue that we need to tackle, and it is a drag on our ability to have the homes that we need across Northern Ireland.
“The whole purpose of the housing supply strategy is that it recognises that there are many different issues that are holding us back and being a problem when it comes to our ability to build homes.
“I absolutely agree that planning and infrastructure are really important parts.
“We need to free that up and make sure that there is the land availability, that we can get planning for new homes and that we have the water connections, because the homes will be worthless without that.”
Mr Lyons said he had engaged with Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd over the issue.
He added: “But it also needs to have the support of Executive colleagues.
“We need to make sure that action is taken because, if we do not, it is a serious drag on what we want to do.
“It does not stop all the other things, but it is a problem.”