Agenda NI May / June 2021 Housing Report

Housing report

housing report

Housing Minister Deirdre Hargey MLA: Housing system revitalisation Minister for the Department for Communities, Deirdre Hargey MLA, discusses her plans to tackle the significant challenges facing the housing system, including the revitalisation of the Housing Executive and the development of a housing supply strategy.

Outlining that legislative and structural transformation is needed to address housing need in Northern Ireland, the Minister sets out her “ultimate ambition” to ensure that every household in Northern Ireland has access to “good quality, affordable and sustainable housing, which is appropriate to meet its needs”.

Hargey recently announced plans to revitalise the Housing Executive and points to the landlord function of the Housing Executive, with ownership of some 85,000 homes, as an area where the most significant challenges lie.

Offering a context of the long-standing investment challenges which exist, the Minister points to 2018 analysis which

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put the cost of maintaining standards of Housing Executive stock over the next 30 years at £7.1 billion.

“More than two years have passed since that analysis. The current situation is most certainly worse, and the scale of investment is even greater,” she states. “It is clear that the Housing Executive, as it is currently structured, cannot afford to fund the investment required. Neither can the Executive, as this would require funding to be diverted from other services which we all depend on.”

The Minister moots some other “equally undesirable options” in the form of diverting the Department’s resources to build new social homes or a reduction

in Housing Executive stock by 40,000 homes, both of which she says will result in increasing levels of housing stress.

“None of these options are acceptable to me. That is why I am seeking an alternative way forward which will provide the Housing Executive with the freedom to borrow without scoring against public expenditure,” she explains.

Outlining her vision for the Housing Executive as a sustainable landlord to maintain and provide good quality and affordable social homes to those in need of them, the Minister says that she is committed to “co-designing viable options for change” alongside

tenants, communities, staff, and their representatives.

Hargey indicates that revitalisation will not be focused on the Housing Executive’s landlord function alone.

Stressing that it is important to reflect on the Housing Executive’s role as the regional housing authority, responsible for functions including assessment of need, management of the common waiting list and the geographical distribution of new social builds, the Minister outlines her view that the organisation must remain accountable to a publicly appointed board, with oversight from an Executive Minister.

Under plans set out by the Minister, a comprehensive review of the Housing Executive’s rental structure is to be conducted, a commitment previously set out in the New Decade, New Approach agreement. The review will be focused on delivering social rent levels which are affordable for tenants, while at the same time being financially sustainable for the landlord, according to Hargey.

Hargey says that the recent UK Budget announcement, which included an exemption for the Housing Executive from paying corporation tax, registers as an important contribution to her plans to revitalise the organisation.

Additionally, she has tasked officials to explore options for the removal of historic debt alongside colleagues in the Department of Finance and with the British Government.

Returning to the issue of social housing stock protection and a reduction in levels of housing stress, the Minister identifies a conflict in policies between capital investment and discounted sales.

“Over the past few years, we have invested an average £100 million of capital in building around 1,800 new social homes. However, each year we have sold an average of 483 homes under the Right to Buy scheme at a discount of up to £24,000. This is a discount the public have funded, and we clearly have policies that are in direct conflict with one another.

“I will make sure that we have a suite of options to ensure community stability and enable everybody to buy a family home, if they wish, but this must not reduce the supply of social housing that we are striving to increase.”

Hargey outlines her intention to launch a consultation on the future of the Housing Executive House Sales Scheme, building on legislation passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly in June 2020 which will see the end of the house sales scheme for housing associations in August 2022. This, she says, will address the need to do more to protect the social housing stock.

On building plans, she says: “I believe the targets for social housing build are far too low and I am keen to gain sufficient budget, as well as introducing policy changes to increase the capacity of the Social Housing Development Programme and to deliver more homes where they are most needed.”

Included in these plans, the Minister sets out an intention to: •

reintroduce ringfencing of funding;

•

carry out public body engagement to address infrastructure complaints;

•

encourage housing associations to identify available land for social housing;

•

identify surplus public land for social and intermediate housing; and

•

update the Housing Selection scheme.

“I want to revitalise our social housing to make it work better and to make

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“I believe the targets for social housing build are far too low and I am keen to gain sufficient budget, as well as introducing policy changes to increase the capacity of the Social Housing Development Programme and to deliver more homes where they are most needed.”

“Mutual and cooperative designation are some of the options to be considered, however, my priority will be to retain the value of the Housing Executive model. I want to give full consideration to the options that limit change as far as possible,” she states.

sure that there is a lot more of it,” the Minister states.

Private rent Highlighting her understanding that housing stress is not a challenge for the social housing sector alone, Hargey says that the private rented sectors, now of a similar size to the social sector but containing twice as many families with children, was one of the Department’s most urgent areas of intervention as the pandemic broke.

The Minister says that development of the Private Tenancies (Coronavirus Modifications) Act (Northern Ireland) 2020 helped focus attention on the vulnerability of tens of thousands of families and hundreds of thousands of people living in private rentals.

Elaborating that 40 per cent of all housing benefit is paid to private landlords, Hargey says that it is only right that her Department ensures that hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being paid to private landlords is not paying for low quality or overpriced housing.

“I will bring forward legislation to the Assembly that will improve the safety, security and quality of the private rental sector,” the Minister states. “Four weeks is far too short a time for anyone to be asked to leave their home and to find a suitable new house, which is affordable. My department previously consulted on extending the notice to quit to eight weeks, but it is my view that it should be a lot longer.”

Suggesting her preferred notice period is for six months, the Minister adds: “I am looking to see what is possible given the limits of our legislation.”

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housing options, focusing capital grants on building more social homes and in parallel to protecting and enhancing our social hosing, improve the situation for those private renters and deliver more intermediate housing options,” the Minister summarises.

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Homelessness Setting out the prioritisation of actions to improve the response to homelessness, Hargey says that the Department’s future homelessness policy will build in the lessons learnt in response to the pandemic and will include the roll out of an interdependent homelessness action plan which will continue to support the Housing Executive to deliver its statutory responsibility for responding to homelessness.

“My department previously consulted on extending the notice to quit to eight weeks, but it is my view that it should be a lot longer.”

On rents, the Minister acknowledges that tenants in the private rental sector often face the highest rents and often get the least value for their money. “I accept that landlords run businesses, but I will not let them exploit tenants, especially given that so much of the rent that they receive comes from the taxpayers,” the Minister says.

“It does not matter if you rent a social house or from a private landlord, I will bring forward protections to ensure that your rent is fair and secures you a good home.”

Hargey emphasises her intention to continue to help people into home ownership if it is their choice to do so.

The pandemic has had a recognisable impact on mortgage availability, not least because of the introduction of stricter lending criteria by banks. To this

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end, the Minister says that she allocated some £13 million of additional funding for the co-ownership scheme.

Additionally, she signals an intention to expand intermediate housing options, recognising that intermediate rent homes can be a stepping stone to lowcost homeownership for some or can provide better, more affordable solutions for others.

FTC The Minister says that she aims to ensure that a choice will not have to made between private renter supports and social housing investment by maximising the potential of new funding streams such as financial transactions capital (FTC) loan funding.

“I will use FTC to deliver additional

Highlighting that her department does not have responsibility for the whole housing market, Hargey says that the recognition that housing is an integrated system and that the challenges facing the increase in supply of social and intermediate housing are the same as those effecting housing supply more broadly, are the reasoning behind the development of a new Housing Supply Strategy.

The Department for Communities is leading on the strategy’s development which will look at whole-system issues which act as a barrier to supply but will also give consideration to wider issues around quality, sustainability, and affordability in the context of changing demographic and household formation trends.

“The Strategy will align with the Executive’s energy and green growth strategies and, in doing so, will provide the long-term basis for sustaining improvements across the entire housing market but with a specific focus on equality and on increasing housing supply and housing options for those in greatest housing need,” the Minister explains.

Summarising her approach to a lengthy list of challenges in the housing sector, the Minister concludes: “Equality and rights are the basis of my approach and you can’t get more basic than the right to a home.”

Private Rented Bill scope limited by time The Executive has been asked to bring forward a limited Bill to improve protections for private renters.

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has stated that the Bill is not as “far reaching” as she would like but said that the Bill “needs to be achievable in the 11 months left in the mandate”.

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Hargey is preparing to ask the Executive to bring legislation to the Assembly following publication of the Department’s response to a consultation carried out in 2017 on proposals for change to the private rented sector.

The Department has yet to indicate whether the Minister will seek accelerated passage of the Bill, which enables a Bill to pass all scrutiny stages (skipping committee stage) in as little as 10 days.

However, it is understood that the scope of the Bill will exclude a number of key reforms previously indicated by the Minister as desirable, including changes to Letting Agent Regulation and the introduction of Grounds for Eviction and Fitness Standards.

Northern Ireland’s private rented sector has grown significantly in recent years and is now similar in size to its social housing sector. Twice as many families with children live in private rentals in comparison to social housing and it is estimated that some 40 per cent of all housing benefit paid out goes directly to private landlords. In 2019/20, over £270 million was paid out in housing benefit and Universal Credit costs to the private rented sector.

The sector and the vulnerabilities of those within the sector were recognised from the outset of the pandemic. Legislation in the form of the Private Tenancies (Coronavirus Modifications) Act extended the notice to quit period to 12 weeks. The Act was put in place in April 2020 and has been extended several times throughout the pandemic.

In November 2020, then interim Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín outlined to the Assembly the intention to introduce sweeping changes across the housing sector, including in relation to private rentals.

Minister Hargey has now begun progressing those plans and, in early May 2021 set out the main contents of the Bill set to be brought forward. One of the main components of the Bill will be a move to permanently extend the notice to quit period, however, the length of the extension remains unclear. The Department has previously consulted on an extension from the existing four weeks to eight weeks but speaking recently to agendaNi, Minister Hargey stated her opinion that this needed to be longer and pointed to six months as a potential timeframe. The Minister said that she has asked her officials to “explore what is possible”.

Other elements of the Bill include: • ensuring all private tenants are issued with a written agreement of tenancy terms; • restrictions on rent increases to once in a 12-month period; • a mandatory requirement for private landlords to provide smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and to carry out periodic electrical checks; and • the introduction of enabling power in primary legislation which will make provision for the introduction and enforcement of minimum standards of energy efficiency in the sector.

Acknowledging that reform of the private rented sector, accompanied by primary legislation is challenging, Hargey says: “It is clear reform is urgently needed to improve protections in the private rented sector particularly for the most vulnerable in our communities. The initial Bill is only the start. In the longer-term, I will also address issues such as letting agent regulation, the introduction of grounds for eviction and fitness standards. These improvements have been a long time coming and will enhance conditions for tenants living in the sector.”

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Building for the future

Grainia Long, Chief Executive, Housing Executive.

New Housing Executive Chief Executive Grainia Long discusses the role of the organisation in planned transformation of the housing sector and how the ability to borrow will have positive outcomes for exiting and future tenants.

Long, a housing professional for over 20 years, officially took up post in April 2021 and quickly set to work getting to grips with an organisation she knows is at its best when focused on people.

As someone who has previously worked in partnership with the Housing

Executive, Long is well aware that decisions taken by the largest public sector landlord in western Europe, and owner of some 85,000 homes, are massively impactful on a range of individuals and so must be made with “empathy, sincerity and professionalism”.

“My vision for the organisation is one that is very people-centred,” she explains.

“Everything we do should be done for positive outcomes for the communities that we serve and the people in our homes. That 70,000 children and young people go to sleep in Housing Executive homes every night highlights the responsibilities that we have.

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“What has really pleased me is that there is a strong, existing understanding of that responsibility. Culturally, as an organisation, we know we are there, primarily, to keep people safe, warm and dry in their homes.”

The importance of this understanding has never been more evident than in the context of the transformative events of the past year. As well as dealing with the wide-ranging impacts of the pandemic, in November, the organisation learned of the Housing Minister’s vision for transformation of the housing sector and, in particular, revitalisation of the Housing Executive.

Long takes little credit for the agility shown by the Housing Executive in response to the pandemic, something that was already well underway by the time she joined but describes the impacts of the move to ensure staff safety and redesign services as both “profound” and “long-lasting”.

“The first step we must take is to fully assess the impact of this year on our staff, our systems and our services, and any long-term impact. Where we see issues we can act quickly, such as investing in the health and wellbeing of our staff. However, we also have to identify what improvements and innovations have been made and ensure that we retain them going forward,” explains Long.

Revitalisation Embedding those improvements will be a critical part of the future of the organisation. The year 2021 marks 50 years since the organisation’s formation, introduced as a strategic housing authority to bring equality and fairness to the allocation of housing in Northern Ireland. Since then, the organisation has evolved.

Housing benefit administration of some £600 million, responsibility for assisting the homeless in Northern Ireland, tackling anti-social behaviour and promoting social enterprise are examples of services delivered by the Housing Executive beyond its original remit, as it sought and succeeded to deliver for changing demands.

Long is well aware that she has taken up post at a critical juncture of the Housing Executive’s future, with the groundwork being laid to how the next 50 years of the organisation might look.

Central to that vision are ministerial plans to reform Northern Ireland’s housing system and revitalise the Housing Executive.

The Chief Executive welcomes the ambition of the Minister’s vision,

identifying intractable problems in housing supply and identifying the need for transformative measures.

While the scale of reform is wideranging, one of the most significant ambitions is to equip the Housing Executive with the power to borrow.

“What is really exciting about the ministerial statement is that it sets out a plan to enable this organisation to have the freedom and autonomy to do things it can’t currently do,” says Long.

For the past two decades, housing demand in Northern Ireland has outstripped supply. As a result, Northern Ireland faces a social housing shortage, and some 40,000 people are currently on the social housing waiting list.

Much emphasis has been put on how the Housing Executive’s ability to build again will help reduce the gap between supply and demand, however, Long emphasises the importance of borrowing power also enabling greater investment in existing stock.

“Our ability to set out what our borrowing is for is very important,” she states. “Any landlord with the capacity to borrow will use that capacity, not just to build, but to invest in their existing stock and to maintain the quality and standards of their homes.

“It is really important that we treat with equal importance our future tenants and our existing tenants.”

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The Chief Executive says that as a services-orientated organisation, the primary focus was on ensuring connection with tenants and wider communities was not undermined.

Although assessing the organisation’s response as largely successful, Long recognises an opportunity to learn from the pandemic response for future improvement.

“Revitalisation of this organisation and the ability to borrow is critical to our ambitions to reinvest in our stock and decrease the gap between the level of social housing supply and those waiting for homes.” term “structural inability” to close the social housing supply and demand gap.

“We have seen that incrementalism is not closing the gap at a quick enough pace and so we need to try new methods. One of those methods is enabling this organisation to borrow and to build. We plan to do that alongside our delivery partners and alongside housing associations who have proven their ability to build at scale and to invest in communities.

“Output for the previous year was really positive and is evidence that we have an eco-system of housing deliverers who work well together. It is in everyone’s interest that we continue with that, but we also need to increase the numbers and that is why revitalisation is so exciting,” states Long.

The Chief Executive does not have a preferred model for the future of the organisation. Instead, she says, attempts to pursue a specific model at this stage would “miss the opportunity” to sufficiently focus on the organisation’s mission and purpose for the future.

“Tenants have to be at the core of this,” stresses Long. “If we spend too much time focused on the legal structures now then I think we will miss the opportunity to engage with current and future tenants on their strategic interests.”

The Housing Executive is currently working with the Department for Communities to deliver a business case

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Long is complimentary of the role housing associations have played as social housing providers, particularly over the previous years. Figures from the Department for Communities show that in 2020/21, 2,403 new social homes were started, 30 per cent more than the target. However, she recognises a long-

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“There are very few organisations in Northern Ireland investing at that level in physical infrastructure, which we know has a large multiplier effect in relation to the economy.”

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The Housing Executive’s maintenance programme over the next seven years spans to several hundred million pounds, included in which is at least 50 apprenticeship places annually. Long adds: “Market cycles come and go but housing has the potential to be a constant and sustainable growth lever.

That places us as a key organisation economically.”

“If we spend too much time focused on the legal structures now then I think we will miss the opportunity to engage with current and future tenants on their strategic interests.”

by March 2022, which is set to include a range of options on how borrowing may be raised and an outline of what that borrowing will then be spent on.

“Previous attempts to think differently about this organisation and restructure the organisation have, in my view, felt like they were being done to the Housing Executive. One of the first questions I asked on entering the Housing Executive was whether this was being done with or to the organisation. I think it is very important that we are working alongside the Department to deliver a transformational process.”

Another reason this collaboration is important, explains Long, is that even

with the capacity to build, the Housing Executive will still face many of the challenges currently being felt by social housing providers including issues like land availability and the speed at which planning decisions are taken.

“We need to look in strategic terms, not just as organisations, but as a housing sector, at those challenges which have been limiting supply.”

Economic recovery Long is quick to point out the wider benefits of housing sector transformation on Northern Ireland’s economy, something which is vitally important as the economy seeks to recover from the impact of the pandemic.

On the role of the Housing Executive, she says: “The sheer scale of the economic impact of this organisation can not be overstated. We plan to invest £217 million towards stock improvements this calendar year and that investment will not only be beneficial for tenants but will have a positive impact on jobs and supply chains, locally.

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The Chief Executive is aware of her organisation’s central role in not just the economic but also the environmental future of Northern Ireland. The region is set to target net-zero carbon by 2050.

While progress has been made in relation to electricity decarbonisation, little progress has been made in relation to heat, transport and agriculture.

“We will not get to net-zero emissions without transformation of the housing system and without retrofitting the existing stock across housing,” states Long. “Central to that is our 85,000 existing homes and any new ones that we build. We understand our responsibility and it is one that we take on with relish.

“On joining the organisation, I found teams of people with expertise and focus on the transition to net-zero carbon who were already well advanced in their thinking and that puts us in a really good place.”

One practical example of the positive impact of this work offered by Long is matched funding by the Housing Executive of the European Regional Development Fund, which will see €38 million in total spent on energy efficiency upgrades of some 2,000 homes.

“We’re central to the decarbonisation agenda and conscious of the forthcoming Energy Strategy from the Department for the Economy and we’re working alongside officials in relation to energy efficiency. We’re also engaged with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs on the Green Growth Strategy. These aspirations will be challenging but I’m excited about our role because of the scale of the potential benefits.”

Homelessness

Recently, the Housing Executive launched their Homelessness Reset Plan, a response to the impacts of Covid-19 on homelessness. Outlining, the reasoning behind the plan, Long says: “The actions taken since early March 2020 have mirrored much of our existing strategic commitments, but the pandemic has forced faster progress on key fronts.

“We need to protect this progress while also considering the wider strategic impacts.”

In May the Minister confirmed that she would fully fund the £9 million investment of the Housing Executive's Reset Plan for this year.

The response from the Housing Executive, the community and voluntary sector and the private sector to rough sleeping at the outbreak of the pandemic was highly commended but also recognised as an emergency response to a crisis situation.

“I don’t think anyone around the table would say that what we came up with was a sustainable solution, because what we were doing was placing people in accommodation that was temporary,” says Long, who explains that the plan also goes beyond rough sleeping and to those individuals and families in unsuitable accommodation.

Highlighting a recognition that the profile of homelessness has changed over recent years and that many of the complex underlying issues often identified in relation to homelessness are set to be compounded by the pandemic, the Chief Executive hopes that the collaboration which saw an effective response to the pandemic can now be carried over to deliver long-term solutions.

“The solutions that were delivered were only ever designed to be temporary, so, the next set of challenges are different, and the solutions will need to be

“Any landlord with the capacity to borrow will use that capacity, not just to build, but to invest in their existing stock and to maintain the quality and standards of their homes.” different. The Reset Plan is about recognising this and about deliberately doing things differently than was the case during the pandemic but retaining the collaboration and problem-solving in the same focused way.”

Concluding with her short, medium, and

The approach to the Reset Plan will also largely inform the Housing Executive’s future Homelessness Strategy, which is currently in development to be delivered for 2022. Long adds: “Now is the perfect time to step back and assess where we have succeeded in the past two decades and what are the learnings we can take from the things that haven’t worked.

by residents through planned

“We are a strategy-heavy organisation and sector and while strategies are important, the critical factor is in delivery.

Our strategy will be delivery-focused because homeless people deserve a delivery-focused plan.”

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An increase in supply and reinvestment in stock will also go some way to helping address Northern Ireland’s growing homelessness problem. The Housing Executive is legally responsible for helping those who are homeless and preventing homelessness in Northern Ireland. In 2019, almost 20,000 people and families asked the Housing Executive for help dealing with homelessness.

long-term goals of her tenure, the Chief Executive says that the immediate focus must be on recovery from Covid. Further out, she believes the impact of investment in existing stock will be felt maintenance in the coming years, with a multiplier effect on the local economy.

Finally, she says: “This organisation has capacity to do so much more than it is doing. I look forward to releasing and realising that capacity with a focus on social outcomes in the years ahead.

Revitalisation of this organisation and the ability to borrow is critical to our ambitions to reinvest in our stock and decrease the gap between the level of social housing supply and those waiting for homes.”

Grainia Long Grainia took up post as the Chief Executive of the Housing Executive in April 2021. Prior to this she was the Commissioner for Resilience for the city of Belfast and co-Chaired the Belfast Climate Commission. Grainia was also the Chief Executive of the national child protection charity in the Republic of Ireland, ISPCC Childline.

This position followed several years working in housing, including as Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), and previously national Director of the CIH in Northern Ireland. She has served two terms as a member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, was a member of the Lyons Commission on Housing Supply and Advisor to the Best Commission on the Future of Housing in Northern Ireland. She is a Senior Independent Director on the Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Group Board, a social housing provider in England.

Grainia is Dublin-born but came to Belfast to study at Queen’s University Belfast, and she has returned to the city following several years in Scotland and England. Her weekends are kept busy with her husband, a three-year-old child and 12-year-old dog, which she says often involves outdoor activities, including long walks. Over the pandemic, she has rediscovered a love for home cooking, on which, she admits, the jury remains out.

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Poo-power and green gas could supply our future heating needs Director of Business Services at NI Water, Alistair Jinks, outlines the organisation’s pride at being one of the leading public bodies pushing forward innovative solutions to address the climate emergency.

Alistair Jinks, Director of Business Services at NI Water.

As the biggest user of electricity and the second largest landowner, NI Water is uniquely placed to harness its assets for a wide range of environmental initiatives.

Whilst NI Water’s drives to provide customers with high quality water and wastewater services, the company is acutely aware of its broader leadership responsibilities as a custodian of nature.

The utility has invested significantly in renewable energy sources and its extensive asset base has the potential to help society become self-sufficient in lowcost green energy.

Alistair Jinks, Director of Business Services, NI Water explains: “We recognise that as we emerge from the health pandemic, there is a once in a lifetime opportunity to address recovery by resetting our economy for green growth, to decarbonise and deliver sustainable prosperity. To provide green power for the increasing adoption of electric vehicles and to start to decarbonise heating for homes and places of work, Northern Ireland needs to double its renewable generating capacity in the next 10 years. That means thinking to the future and planning with that in mind, indeed it means making things happen now so that we are ready.”

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Transport accounts for around a quarteri of our harmful climate emissions in Northern Ireland, and with the UK Government’s commitment to phase out fossil fuel vehicles in 2030, there is an expectation that electric vehicles (EVs) will quickly become common place in our every-day lives.

Cue then for NI Water to unveil progress in this area, as its first electric vans enter operation.

NI Water’s fleet of 600 vehicles are a familiar sight to the public, with staff providing an essential 24/7 service, 365 days a year, to all areas of Northern Ireland.

Jinks continues: “A reliable, efficient fleet is vital for NI Water staff to deliver essential water and wastewater services for the community. Given NI Water’s commitment to health, environment and the economy, our use of alternative fuel vehicles is under continual review. With circa 600 light commercial (LCVs) and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), NI Water recognises in particular the importance of decarbonising our fleet.

“Ahead of the ban on the sale of many new petrol and diesel vehicles, we have been actively considering how, when and where to upgrade to the various forms of

alternative fuel technology. It is exciting to see the tangible impact of that work in the form of the first delivery of four new eNV200 vehicles from Nissan.”

For Northern Ireland to play its part in achieving Net-Zero by 2050, NI Water faces a number of challenges. One challenge where good progress has been made is in decarbonising the company’s use of electricity, with over 40 per cent in 2020/21 being generated by renewable sources.

It’s a good start, but as Jinks explains: “We have a wider responsibility to help to ensure that Northern Ireland’s green electricity is affordable. High costs lower everyone’s standard of living and adversely impacts our economy.

Decarbonisation presents us with a once in a lifetime opportunity that we must grasp to create green growth.”

One way to lower costs is to put NI Water’s assets to use in helping to supply affordable electricity. In the next 10 years Northern Ireland’s renewable generating capacity will need to double but the existing system infrastructure is not capable of supplying this requirement. To avoid unaffordable strengthening, the electricity system will need new and much greater flexibility to

be provided by innovative solutions that are designed to help keep customer bills down.

NI Water is unique in that it has over 3,000 widely distributed grid connected sites with substantial numbers of assets that will be increasingly relevant in providing electricity network flexibility. For example, many hundreds of large pumps are operating across the province to deliver water and wastewater services.

Today, these operate without factoring if customer demand for electricity is high or low but in the future this could be very different. The Intelligent Operations Control Centre at NI Water is developing the capability to flex the company’s energy consumption at distribution level.

The aim is for NI Water to use less power in peak demand periods so that more electricity can be supplied to customers who need it, leaving NI Water to ramp up activity at other times. By using existing assets in this way, costs for electricity and water customers can be lower.

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Jinks adds: “NI Water already has resources that are connected to the electricity network, such as standby generators. With the demand for flexibility increasing significantly, NI Water is deciding how other assets may play a role, such as advanced electrolysers and large-scale batteries. Digital technology also means that existing assets, such as our pumps, can also play an important role.”

Maghaberry Wastewater Treatment Works.

NI Water’s capability to help Northern Ireland to become self-sufficient in lowcost renewable energy is increasingly being recognised by senior stakeholders in government.

“Poo-power may be another opportunity,” explains Jinks. “The decarbonisation timescale we are operating to, does not allow us to harness and supply enough renewable electricity to decarbonise all of our energy needs by 2050. We are going to need to change to conserve energy and stop wasting it. Our sewage system could provide an important part of the answer.”

Thanks to things like showers and washing machines, the average temperature of wastewater that runs through the sewers beneath our feet is 15 degrees. This energy can be captured to create sustainable, low carbon heat.

The heat found in wastewater is harnessed via a heat exchanger to transfer it to the clean water network using a closed loop. A heat pump then

Alistair Jinks, Director of Business Services and Damien O’Mullan, Head of Energy at NI Water with a small-scale electrolyser on site at Kinnegar Wastewater Treatment Works.

increases the temperature of the clean

Indeed, green hydrogen may also have

water, which in turn provides heating and

a growing role in supplying the gas grid

warm water to buildings. District heating

as it seeks to decarbonise. Time will tell,

schemes based on ‘poo-power’ for

but the decarbonisation clock is ticking

housing or town centre buildings could

and Northern Ireland needs to be ready.

very well be part of our future.

“We all have to act to tackle the climate Green gas could also be key. Jinks adds:

emergency. NI Water has an ambitious

“Whilst the primary focus for NI Water in

strategy to play its part. Poo-power and

deploying electrolysis at its Belfast Renewable Resource Hub is to produce oxygen to improve treatment processes

green gas might just prove to be an important part of it,” Jinks concludes.

as well as green hydrogen, a gas that can help to decarbonise its vehicle fleet, the surplus heat created by the electrolysis process could also supply

NI Water W: www.niwater.com

district heating schemes.”

i. https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/news/northern-ireland-greenhouse-gas-inventory-1990-2017-released

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Homelessness crisis A rush back to ‘normal’ would be a failure to recognise the pre-existing homelessness crisis in Northern Ireland, writes David Whelan.

To some extent, the pandemic-induced response to Northern Ireland’s growing homelessness crisis obscured the realities of an area already in dire need of intervention. The mammoth task undertaken by statutory bodies and stakeholders to get people suitable accommodation in the middle of a public health emergency is to be commended but as they themselves will tell you, the sticking plaster is already starting to loosen.

There is a common argument circulating since March 2020 that the response the pandemic, which saw rough sleepers removed from the streets of Belfast and Derry and placed into temporary accommodation, is evidence that Northern Ireland’s homelessness challenge is easily

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solvable, with the right resources and attention.

Unfortunately, the homelessness crisis in Northern Ireland is far more complex.

The first thing to highlight is that while rough sleeping is one of the more extreme manifestations of homelessness and often includes those with the most acute needs, homelessness in Northern Ireland is a challenge on a much broader scale and ranges from people staying in temporary accommodation, staying with friends or family and continuing to live in unsuitable housing conditions.

The second issue is the need for recognition that what has occurred over the last year has been an emergency response to a crisis situation. Extra

resources made available following the arrival of Covid-19 in Ireland were a critical factor in ensuring that accommodation was made available, not only for rough sleepers but also to facilitate social distancing in shared accommodations and enable selfisolation when needed. However, other factors made this response possible. A prime example was the absence of tourists and some students, meaning that temporary accommodation was more readily available.

Physical infrastructure itself is only part of the solution to end homelessness.

Support services play a key role in getting people into accommodation, sustaining their tenancy, and also offering alternative pathways to prevent homelessness occurring again.

Ensuring these support services are and will continue to be available to all of those in need is a significant challenge. There is a genuine concern that unless action is taken to ensure accommodation and services are sustainable, people will be forced to return to rough sleeping.

A return to ‘normal’ will not be adequate to solve the homelessness crisis.

Assessing the scale of the challenge, between July to December in 2020, 7,971 households presented as homeless. Of the 4,849 households accepted as statutorily homeless, a third were families and almost 15 per cent were pensioner households.

Included in these figures were 3,136 children.

On 4 January 2021, a total of 3,140 households were in temporary accommodation, 37 per cent of whom had been so for more than a year. Over 94 households had lived in temporary accommodation for more than five years.

Added to this is Northern Ireland’s growing social housing waiting list. By 31 December 2020, 42,665 people were on the social housing waiting list. The likelihood that Covid-19 will compound an existing problem in relation to housing availability can be seen in rising figures even pre-pandemic. The 2.3 per cent rise recorded in March 2020 from the previous year, was the highest figure (38,745) Northern Ireland had seen for years. By December of the same year, this figure had risen by 10 per cent.

One of the concerns raised has been the lack of success of attempts to reverse the growing number of homelessness households in Northern Ireland. Various strategies and action plans have been rolled out over the last

back to the pre-Covid position; it should be to work towards a better position.” decade including the Housing Executive’s (with statutory responsibility for responding to homelessness) most recent Homelessness Reset Plan and its Ending Homelessness Together Strategy 2017-2022. As well as this, the Department for Communities has issued a number of interdepartmental homeless action plans and other crossdepartmental initiatives have been initiated in the past. Undoubtedly, past efforts have played a role in tackling homelessness in Northern Ireland, but none can point to any form of major success when looking at the overall ambition of ending, or dramatically reducing, homelessness.

Those involved in the sector have called for a new approach and a positive sign that progress may be on the horizon is the establishment of taskforce in response to the pandemic, which looks set to play a leading role in the codesign of the Housing Executive’s new homelessness strategy for 2022-2027, which is currently underdeveloped.

The taskforce, encompassing statutory bodies and leading charities operating in the sector was credited with the efficient response to the pandemic and part of its remit will be to not only investigate how homelessness services coped during the pandemic but also outline necessary changes for the short to medium term, and recommend preparations for longer-term challenges.

An encouraging sign that a return to ‘normal’ should not be considered a success, the Housing Executive’s Homelessness Reset Plan states: “The goal should not be to go back to the pre-Covid position; it should be to work towards a better position.”

Another encouraging sign is greater recognition that the Housing Executive must be supported in its statutory duty and that the crisis needs to be tackled on a cross-Executive basis. A new AllParty Group on Homelessness set up in

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Thirdly, it is unclear what the homelessness situation will look like post-pandemic, however, an increase in homeless presenters is often aligned to times of economic decline. It is quite likely that post-pandemic, Northern Ireland’s homelessness crisis will be compounded further. Jim Dennison, Chief Executive of the Simon Community recently outlined his understanding that housing support need is currently 14 per cent higher than supply and put a 10-year projection on the increase of homeless presenters at between 30 to 43 per cent.

“The goal should not be to go

the Northern Ireland Assembly should help focus attention on the broader issues such as housing supply, prevention services and support services.

As should fresh indicators under a new Programme for Government (PfG).

Criticism has been levelled at the absence of a specific outcome for housing in the draft PfG circulated for consultation. The New Decade, New Approach agreement committed to a new outcome and indicators to provide a focus on “ensuring every household has access to a good-quality, affordable and sustainable home that is appropriate for its needs”, however, housing is not one of the nine overarching outcomes outlined so far.

Homelessness and suitable housing for all citizens does feature as indicators within three of the nine wellbeing outcomes.

Housing Minister Deirdre Hargey has stated her desire to see housing as a standalone outcome for the forthcoming PfG. The Minister has indicated tackling homelessness as a priority in ambitious plans for transformation of the sector, not least revitalisation of the Housing Executive. Speaking recently to agendaNi, Hargey indicated a recognition that homelessness was not a challenge that could be tackled in isolation and would require a wholesystem approach.

Undoubtedly, this approach will have to encompass sweeping change to ensure that the approach to homelessness not only improves through learnings of the pandemic but acknowledges the extent of the problem which existed prior to Covid-19 and acknowledges the challenge for what it is, a homelessness crisis.

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Delivering with purpose

As Clanmil Housing Group launches its new ambitious five-year strategy, Chief Executive Clare McCarty discusses the heightened importance of people-focused delivery as we emerge from the pandemic.

With over 30 years’ experience at the helm of Clanmil Housing Group, McCarty remains passionate about Clanmil’s purpose, to provide homes for people to live well. She is clear that quality homes and connected communities create safety, stability and opportunity.

This is at the heart of Clanmil’s new fiveyear strategy, which the Chief Executive 42

says is designed to “stretch the organisation and maximise its potential for good”.

Clanmil has an annual turnover of circa £40.3 million and owns over 5,500 homes, ranging from family homes to supported housing and independent living for older people and people living with dementia.

McCarty is excited about the new plan,

which has been shaped by colleagues, customers and stakeholders, and is values driven. It aims to reaffirm Clanmil’s purpose and to become a living guide as to not only what Clanmil does, but how it does it.

Built in the plan are the lessons learned from the pandemic, acknowledging the impact that this has had on both the organisation and its customers. McCarty

paid tribute to the great effort by Clanmil staff to keep people safe, connected and key services maintained during this period. An acknowledgment of the differing impacts this unprecedented trauma will have on people is referenced

by McCarty, referring to a built in sensitivity and empathy to plans going forward. This is also reflected in the new ways of working being introduced at Clanmil.

One of the key themes within the new Clanmil strategy is to provide services that make life easier for its customers.

McCarty explains: “We want our customers to sustain their tenancies for as long as they choose, so it’s important that we remain responsive to changing customer needs and that we make it easy for them to do business with us.

We need to build and maintain healthy, trusting and respectful relationships and empower people to help shape the standard of services we provide.”

The Chief Executive says that the “person-centred strategy” will “stretch what we can do as a housing association and as a social enterprise, in terms of being a force for good”.

“We believe there are more ways in which we can support people and their communities beyond simply providing them with a home. We are passionate

about playing our part in helping to make Northern Ireland a more shared and inclusive place to live and we know that shared communities have a lasting positive impact on people’s lives.”

McCarty continues: “We are also passionate about providing much needed homes for the near 30,000 people in urgent need of a home in Northern Ireland. The plan has a target of providing 1,400 homes over the next five years, with a mixed tenure approach.” Quality design and placeshaping is important to Clanmil, as is the environmental impact and it aims to introduce a target to reduce its carbon footprint over the life of the plan.

Reducing fuel poverty remains a related key aim.

In 2020, Clanmil was responsible for almost 20 per cent of new social homes provided in Northern Ireland and

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Referring back to the five-year strategy, McCarty emphasises that it aims to make every customer experience a positive one, never losing sight of the individual and their unique needs. delivered around 1,000 new homes at over £110 million in the last three years.

McCarty points out that: “The pandemic has served to reinforce the importance of the home in relation to safety, space and wellbeing. Our investments will be targeted not just on increasing the number of homes we provide and on place shaping but also, and very importantly, in our existing homes. We want our customers to be proud of where they live.”

The Chief Executive welcomes the discussion to include housing as a key output of the Programme for Government, commenting that housing is so evidently critical to most of the ambition of the Programme.

Commenting on the Minister’s ambition to transform the housing sector and enabling the Housing Executive to raise funds for retrofitting and development, she welcomes the potential this may bring in terms of increased collaboration and joined up working, and additional leverage on issues such as land supply, planning delays, infrastructure failures and allocations.

She adds: “I believe housing associations could do more, if we were asked to do that, and it’s collaboration and sharing which could be really powerful in relation to social housing delivery.”

In conclusion, McCarty looks forward to sharing the detail of the plan with colleagues and stakeholders and implementing lessons learned from the last year to positive effect.

Clanmil Housing Group T: 028 9087 6000 E: housing@clanmil.org.uk W: www.clanmil.org 43

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Construction capacity and housing supply A planned increase in Northern Ireland’s housing supply will require a greater focus on the skills pipeline to ensure capacity exists in the construction sector to deliver on ambitions.

In April 2021, it was revealed that it could take up to two decades for housing supply to meet waiting list targets at the current rate in Northern Ireland. The need to dramatically increase housing supply to meet demand has been identified and a number of initiatives are underway which could help to address this, including the reclassification of housing associations, plans to equip the Housing Executive with borrowing power and the development of a housing supply strategy by the Department for Communities.

The building of new units alone is not the sole challenge facing Northern Ireland’s housing sector. A legacy of underinvestment in public housing means that much of the public housing stock is in need of upgrading, demographic changes will require an adaptation programme to ensure homes are fit for purpose and the climate change agenda means that mass retrofitting will be required to improve energy efficiency.

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All of this work will require a construction sector with the capacity and skill to meet the demand. The readiness of Northern Ireland’s construction sector to meet future challenges is still undetermined.

How the sector will emerge from the effects of the pandemic remain unclear.

Recent statistics paint the picture of a rebound but in the context of it being one of the hardest hit sectors by the pandemic.

It would appear that while the level of demand should be there for the sector to grow in the coming years, a concentration must be applied to developing a talent pipeline to ensure a sustainable workforce exists. This must be done in recognition that Northern Ireland will not be the only jurisdiction where construction skills are set to be in high demand in coming years. Both the UK and Republic of Ireland governments have recognised the need to address skills shortages in construction if they are to meet ambitious growth plans.

Construction output in Northern Ireland has rebounded after the dramatic

slowdown caused by the outbreak of the pandemic. The last quarter of 2020 saw construction output raise to a 10-year high and the sector registered as the only area with two consecutive quarters of growth at the end of 2020.

However, while the rebound is welcome, growth must be viewed in the context from which it has emerged. The second quarter of 2020, when restrictions were put in place, saw a 30 per cent drop in output from the same period the previous year and the initial response to the pandemic saw the largest quarterly and annual decreases on record. The rebound may have seen construction output increase by 10.3 per cent over the year but on a more accurate rolling four-quarter basis, it has decreased by 5.7 per cent.

Encouragingly, the rebound has been driven by increases in new work (15.8 per cent) and repair and maintenance (15.6 per cent), however, whether these figures are a response to pent up demand or are sustainable long-term trends remains to be seen.

Volume of Housing Output in NI, Q4 2005–Q4 2020

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Source: NISRA

In Q4 2020, the largest sub-sector was housing, which accounted for 34.5 per cent of all construction output. This figure grew by 13.2 per cent when compared to the end of 2019 but was still 11.2 per cent lower on a rolling four-quarter basis. Housing output is currently almost half (47.2 per cent) what it was at the beginning of 2006.

The pandemic’s impact on the labour market is also currently difficult to fully analyse, given that government supports aimed at supporting employment remain in place, however, the latest employment survey paints a picture of rising unemployment across various sectors. At the end of 2020, the overall number of employee jobs across the labour market are estimated to have fallen by 1.2 per cent.

The construction sector accounts for around 5 per cent of all employee jobs in Northern Ireland. At the end of 2020, the number of jobs had fallen by 2 per cent compared to the previous quarter, however, this is in contrast to a 3.3 per cent annual increase over the year. For context, employment in construction in Northern Ireland is currently 24.4 per cent below those figures December 2007, right before the financial crash.

The contrast of the quarterly decrease and the annual increase might be explained by the general slowdown of most sectors across the economy since restrictions were enforced, with those employees suffering job losses in other sectors switching to the construction

sector where there was a recognised pent-up demand.

Northern Ireland’s construction sector performance is closely aligned with overall economic performance and it is understood that efforts to rebuild Northern Ireland’s economy will need to be underpinned by investment in infrastructure. Concerns around skills availability within the sector to meet an increase in investment is not limited to Northern Ireland alone. In March 2021, the Federation of Master Builders warned that the year-on-year decline in construction apprenticeships threatens the UK’s economic recovery and the ability to build back better from the coronavirus pandemic.

Across the UK, it is estimated that 3,000 fewer apprentices started in the first half of the 2020/21 academic year than in the year previous and the impact of declining apprenticeship numbers can be seen in a report for the first quarter of 2021. Of builders surveyed across key trades, 38 per cent reported a bricklayer shortage, 34 per cent struggled to get carpenters/joiners, 10 per cent recorded difficulties hiring general labourers and 9 per cent said getting plasterers had proven difficult.

Northern Ireland is developing a wide variety of new strategies which should see heavy increases in infrastructure investment, ranging from the Energy Strategy and Climate Change Bill, through to a Green Growth Strategy, a Housing Supply Strategy, and a review

of the 2011 Planning Act. Additionally, a future Economic Strategy, the outworkings of the City and Growth Deals and any potential review of the Regional Development Strategy, will all have implications on investment levels and the capacity of the construction sector to meet these demands.

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB NI), tasked with encouraging the adequate training of those employed or intending to be employed in the construction industry and to improve the skills and productivity of the industry in Northern Ireland, has outlined its belief that training within the industry is more important now than ever and have provided a range of supports during the pandemic.

Pre-pandemic, CITB NI had estimated a need for at least 2,500 new recruits to the construction industry over the next five years to meet an expected 0.8 per cent growth for the sector, however, it is widely acknowledged that these estimates will change as a result of recovery plans.

As the Department for the Economy seeks to finalise a Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland, crucial to meeting future demand will be not only supporting the construction industry to emerge from the pandemic but also fostering the skills to ensure capacity exists to meet growth plans.

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Ark Housing Association: Diversity in delivery Deirdre Hargey MLA in her Department’s recent call for evidence in the development of a Housing Supply Strategy: “Access to a safe and secure home is a basic human right, a cornerstone of life, essential to our health and well-being. Limiting access can harm community cohesion, hinder educational development, prevent people connecting to job opportunities; and have a negative impact on physical and mental health.”

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey cutting the first sod at the new £6.5million shared social housing scheme at Ogle Street in Armagh City Centre. The Minister is pictured with (front row) Lord Mayor Kevin Savage and Deborah Donnelly, Ark Housing Chair. Also pictured (back row) are Chief Executive of the Housing Executive Grainia Long and Jim McShane, Ark Housing Chief Executive.

Welcoming a renewed investment focus on housing delivery in Northern Ireland, Ark Housing CEO Jim McShane says that ambitions for the organisation to maximise its capacity for growth will see it build an additional 900 homes in the next five years, including a diversity of house types.

Ark Housing Association provides housing and related services to meet the needs of families, older persons, and single person households. Our general needs homes include a range of house types, apartments, and bungalows, whilst our supported accommodation comprises of residential care, supported living, sheltered housing, dementia care, and mental ill health.

We also provide temporary accommodation for homeless families, and on 1 March this year, we successfully launched a new floating support service in partnership with the

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Housing Executive aimed at assisting families experiencing or threatened with homelessness in the Greater Belfast area.

As one of 19 housing associations tasked with addressing social and affordable housing provision, Ark Housing is committed to maximising its capacity for growth and aims to increase its contribution to social and affordable housing provision by building many more new homes over the next number of years.

As prefaced by Communities Minister

With over 40,000 households currently on waiting lists for social housing, and half of those deemed to be in housing stress, the steady supply of safe, secure, and affordable homes will become even more acute over the next decade, as demographic trends on the number of households increase.

At Ark Housing we very much welcome the Minister’s renewed focus on housing supply as well as her recent commitments to significantly increase government investment in this area and to explore new models of provision in the form of intermediate and affordable homes.

In 2019, we undertook a fundamental review of our contribution to the social housing development programme and subsequently agreed an ambitious growth strategy aimed at delivering nearly 700 additional new homes by 2024, increasing to 900 by 2026.

This programme will require significant investment, amounting to close to £135 million for the period 2019 to 2026 with approximately half of that financial requirement funded by the Department for Communities through the Housing Association Grant programme. As of March 2021, approximately £30 million of that total figure has already been committed.

Our current development activity extends across most local council areas and is focused not only on increasing the number of new social homes in

those districts, but on ensuring that we attain the right balance of diversity in house types and household profiles in order to deliver for the broad spectrum of need in our society.

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Operational delivery of our development programme rests with Cathy Walsh, Director of Property Services; Susan Gibson, Development Services Manager; and Lily Kennedy, Development Assistant. To date the team are on track to meet our key milestones with 537 homes currently under management, 262 progressing on-site, and a further 228 due to start before the end of this financial year.

Ogle Street, Armagh Underpinning our growth, we work to support and build strong community networks through our Tenant Participation Strategy and Shared Housing action plans. One such ‘Housing for All’ scheme, where Ark Housing will roll out a strategic community cohesion plan over a fiveyear period aimed at bringing people together, is our £6.5 million development at Ogle Street Armagh.

Ark Housing Association Growth Strategy 2019-2026 1,329

1,400 1,129

1,200 968

1,000 800

701 561

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Occupying a prime and historic citycentre location this scheme will deliver 42 new homes including a mix of town houses and apartments, including wheelchair accessible accommodation to meet the housing needs of citizens.

Officiating at the launch in May of this year, the Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey stated: “I have asked the Department to begin the biggest reform of social housing in over 50 years. This includes building more homes, where they are needed. This new social housing scheme will provide much needed homes for families in housing need in the Armagh area. It reminds us too that homes make neighbourhoods and schemes like this create places where people want to live and to thrive as a community.

“When the transformational plan to make our housing system better was outlined, a key component was to improve housing, and to make sure there is a lot more of it. This Ogle Street scheme in Armagh demonstrates my commitment to delivering more homes through an ambitious housing programme consistent with New Decade, New Approach. I want to build more homes that meet the needs of our society, now and in the future."

The scheme will be capital financed by a Department for Communities Housing Association Grant of £3.4 million and

1,217

453

480

2019

2020

400 200 0 2021

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private investment by Ark Housing of £3.1 million. As part of the ‘Housing For All’ programme the scheme attracts an additional £598,000 of Good Relations funding.

Commenting at the launch on behalf of Ark Housing, Chair Deborah Donnelly says: “On behalf of Ark Housing Association, and our developing partners Ogle Street Investments, I was delighted to welcome Minister Hargey, Lord Mayor Savage and Housing Executive Chief Executive Grainia Long to mark the official launch of this shared housing and mixed tenure residential development.

“Ark Housing achieved 232 new homes onsite in the past 12 months in our drive to help meet social housing need. This success would not be possible without the support and financial assistance provided by the Department and the Housing Executive and I would therefore like to thank Minister Hargey for her ongoing commitment to the Housing Association sector.”

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2024

2025

2026

Future considerations As housing associations increasingly play a key role in delivering new housing supply, we will encounter a greater number of challenges as that activity is ramped up. Maintaining affordability whilst delivering future carbon neutral requirements may require a rethink across the sector in respect to financing options. Creating sustainable homes that are fit for the future will also require a radical rethink, and the long running issues of unlocking land supply, streamlining planning processes, and tackling our infrastructure deficit will remain high on our agenda as we move forward.

For further information on Ark Housing Association and its development programme, or if you are interested in working with us on our new build agenda, contact info@arkhousing.co.uk

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Housing first: Eradicating homelessness Saija Turunen. Credit: Juha Kahila.

The Y-Foundation’s Saija Turunen discusses how a housing first approach in Finland has seen the country close in on its ambitions to eradicate homelessness by 2027.

Highlighting that Finland is currently the only EU country where the number of homelessness people is on the decline, Turunen points to a dedicated and sustained focus to addressing homelessness in Finland which has seen an almost 80 per cent decrease in homelessness numbers over the past 35 years.

Turunen is a Research Manager at Finland’s Y-Foundation, set up in 1985 as a response to a serious housing shortage in the country. The organisation now owns over 17,000 apartments in over 50 cities and

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municipalities in Finland, making it Finland’s fourth largest landlord, and was a leading developer of the housing first principle.

Turunen confirms that the Y-Foundation’s latest 2020-2030 strategy aligns with the Government’s ambition to halve homeless numbers in Finland by 2023 and totally eradicate homelessness by 2027.

This ambition is realistic when considering the steady progress Finland has been making, not least in reducing homelessness numbers from 20,000 in

1985 to 4,341 in 2020. Of those 4,341 homeless people, only 1,054 are classed as ‘long-term’ homeless.

Interestingly, the number of families experiencing homelessness in Finland has fallen by 85 per cent since 1987, down to 201 families in 2020.

“The situation has not always been brilliant and clearly it is not a quick fix,” explains Turunen. “You are talking about very persistent and committed work over 35 years to get to where we are today and still there is a lot of work to be done.”

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Key to success to date is the inclusion of the housing first principle in the national strategy since 2008.

by providing different kinds of housing, but housing is always the top priority,” she says.

“Everything we do in Finland is about housing first,” she states.

Adding: “In the housing first model, a dwelling is not a reward that a homeless person receives once their life is back on track. Instead, a dwelling is the foundation on which the rest of life is put back together. When a person has a roof securely over their head it is easier for them to focus on solving their other problems.”

The Research Manager points to research which suggests the economic benefit of this approach, with savings in emergency healthcare, social services and the justice system totalling around €15,000 annually for every homeless person in properly supported housing.

Additionally, research for housing first units suggests that residents’ use of health, social and police services decrease by 34 per cent.

However, she is quick to point out that the benefits to a housing first approach should not be measured in monetary value alone, with immeasurable benefits occurring for individuals, families, and society as a result.

Housing first Setting out that housing first is not simply a principle in Finland but also an operating model, Turunen points to two cornerstones of this model. The first is housing as a human right and the second is the provision of support if needed. Additionally, a third critical element of success in Finland is the provision that housing solutions are delivered where others are living.

“All the work done for homeless people starts from the assumption that the first support measure should be the provision of housing. The work can be organised using different models and

Reiterating that the reduction in homelessness in Finland has been a centrally led process, over many decades, Turunen highlights the various iterations of national policy which began in 2008 with a recognition that more affordable housing was needed in the market. The construction and purchasing of new, affordable housing was one of the most important goals of the Finnish National Programme (PAAVO 1, 2008-2011). Both PAAVO 1 and PAAVO 2 (2012-2015), the nation’s second programme for government, focused on tackling long-term homelessness and saw a large conversion of shelters to permanent housing solutions.

Highlighting the State’s strength of conviction to ending homelessness, Turunen flags that commitment towards reducing homelessness remained a priority throughout the economic recession which began in 2008, even as cuts were made to many other public services.

Finland’s third national strategy from 2016–2019 took a greater focus on

homelessness prevention and the current programme 2020-2022 has evolved further, decentralising a lot of responsibility to local levels within cities.

“Critical to the success of these successive strategies has been the continued political will and commitment to eradicating homelessness,” explains Turunen.

Halving homelessness The importance of measurable quantitative goals is highlighted by Turunen, who points to a cooperation programme within the national strategy to eradicate homelessness by 2027 which aims to halve homelessness by 2023. Key elements of the plan include city-specific plans for the 11 cities with the largest homelessness numbers, increased social housing share within new housing areas from 25 per cent to 30 per cent (rising to 35 per cent post2023), impact investing, a move to make housing advisory services statutory and the development of new low threshold services and forms of support in scattered housing.

These plans build on the successes to date, the main elements of which have been systemic change from temporary accommodation solutions to the delivery of permanent homes, the role of housing advisors in preventing evictions and the inclusion of experienced experts in planning.

Interestingly, the Y-Foundation is not solely focused on eradicating homelessness in Finland but also

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housing report Väinölä Housing First Unit from Espoo, Finland. Credit: Jouni Törmänen.

“To end homelessness, we need a systemic change.

To change the system of homelessness policy and services we need an adequate and accessible social housing supply, universal access to welfare; a prevention first approach and a transition from emergency and temporary accommodation to permanent housing with housing first.” reducing it internationally. In this context, Turunen points to the importance, in a global context, of adopting the critical elements of: • housing first as a mainstream policy; • offering alternative housing solutions and tailor-made support; • offering permanent housing solutions; • ensuring social housing is affordable; • utilising Finland’s general housing benefit; and

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• implementation through partnerships, in a timely manner and with concrete goals.

“To end homelessness, we need a systemic change. To change the system of homelessness policy and services we need an adequate and accessible social housing supply, universal access to welfare; a prevention first approach; and a transition from emergency and temporary accommodation to permanent housing with housing first,” she says.

Challenges However, the Research Manager is aware that challenges exist to progress in reducing homelessness. She identifies complacency of progress as a leading challenge but adds that even with success has come a recognition that a greater number of people now need a wider network of supports in the context if the pandemic and potential economic impacts.

Looking specifically at Finland, Turunen says that intensive case management (ICM) has not always been intensive enough and there is a recognised lack of integration between basic health and social services. This, for example, has led to insufficient availability for drug users.

Finally, Turunen states that as is common in other areas of Europe, the ‘not in my back yard’ way of thinking is still persistent in some parts, particularly affluent, parts of Finland. This has not been helped by an uneven development of housing first thinking and practice across various stakeholders.