A membership body representing homeless charities in Northern Ireland has said the continued rise in the number of households with homeless status in Northern Ireland is “deeply concerning”.
It follows the publication of statistics by the Department for Communities which show that the number of applicants on the social housing waiting list and households experiencing homelessness has continued to climb.
At the end of September 48,366 applicants were on the housing waiting list, a 17% increase in the number of applicants a decade ago.
Of those applicants 36,741 (76%) are deemed to be in ‘housing stress’ while 30,648 have homeless status.
Since March 2024, the number of households with homeless status has more than doubled, and an additional 18,382 households are now deemed homeless.
In the last year over 16,000 households presented as homeless to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), with just over 4,000 of those presenting between July and September.
Figures previously released by the Department for Communities in response to an Assembly question, showed that at the end of June 58,238 people made up the social housing waiting list.
Between October 2023 to September 11,091 households were accepted as homeless by the NIHE, accounting for 66.4% of all households who presented.
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According to published figures, over a third (34.5%) of acceptances are families.
Northern Ireland is in the midst of a housing crisis, with demand far outstripping supply.
Against this backdrop, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s waiting list for housing has continued to grow year-on-year.
Mark Baillie, head of policy and programmes at membership body Homeless Connect said that the rise is “deeply concerning”.
Mr Baillie said: “It is obvious that far too many people in this society are simply unable to access the housing they need.
“The continuing rise in the number of households with homelessness status in Northern Ireland is deeply concerning.
“The theme of this year’s Homelessness Awareness Week coming up in the first week of December is ‘Time for Change’. These statistics show why the theme this year is so appropriate for this moment.”
During the October funding round, an additional £24m was announced to “help enable the delivery of 1,400 [social] houses in this financial year”.
It followed a cut to the Department for Communities budget which threatened to see social housing builds cut to the lowest level in decades.
“There have been some positive developments in recent months when it comes to housing including the inclusion of a specific housing priority in the draft Programme for Government and the additional funding identified for social housing in the October monitoring round,” added Mr Baillie.
“However, if we are going to turn the curve on the number of people experiencing homelessness in this society, we will need the NI Executive to both talk the talk and walk the walk when it comes to responding to homelessness.
“Homeless Connect and our member organisations are ready to work constructively with our partners in the Government to bring about the change we so urgently need to see.”
The Department for Communities has been contacted for comment.