{"id":143102,"date":"2025-05-30T03:46:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T03:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/143102\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T03:46:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T03:46:10","slug":"homelessness-in-northern-ireland-more-than-doubles-in-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/143102\/","title":{"rendered":"Homelessness in Northern Ireland more than doubles in a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAcross every council area, too many families and individuals are finding themselves locked out of access to social and genuinely affordable housing,\u201d Nicola McCrudden, chief executive of Homeless Connect<\/a>, warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have no other option but to enter the homelessness system with all the consequences this can have for them and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

While homelessness is rising across the UK, Northern Ireland has seen the sharpest increase. According to the most recent comparative data,<\/a> between 2023 and 2024, the number of households recognised as homeless by local authorities rose by 13.5% in Northern Ireland. That compares to 12.3% in England, 8% in Wales and 3% in Scotland.<\/p>\n

The latest figures also highlight the regional breakdown of homelessness in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

Belfast City Council<\/a> has the highest number of homeless households at 9,975 \u2013 more than double the 4,557 recorded in March 2015. Derry and Strabane follow with 4,437 households (a 121% rise over the decade), and Newry, Mourne and Down recorded 2,803 (up 112%).<\/p>\n

McCrudden said the root of the problem is a severe shortage of social housing.<\/p>\n

Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a simple fact that we need a sufficient supply of housing to prevent homelessness. Without these social homes, this trend will only continue to worsen with the social, economic and relational consequences this has for those impacted,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge the Executive to use every lever available to them to find the resources needed to deliver on the social housing we need to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of March 31, 49,083 households were on the social housing<\/a> waiting list in Northern Ireland \u2013 up 25% from 39,338 in March 2015. Of those, 31,719 households also had homelessness status.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

In December, the Department for Communities published its Housing Supply Strategy, which was endorsed by the Executive. The 15-year plan aims to deliver 100,000 homes by 2039, with one-third designated for social housing.<\/p>\n

But progress is slow, warned McCrudden.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department for Communities has confirmed that the initial budget allocation for 2025\/6 will only allow them to build up to 1,000 social housing new starts this year,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is far short of the over 2,000 new starts needed this year to meet the target.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n

During the 2022\u201323 financial year, the Northern Ireland Executive spent over \u00a332 million on temporary accommodation \u2013 more than double the amount spent five years earlier.<\/p>\n

Promises are easy to break. Sign <\/strong>Big Issue\u2019s petition for a Poverty Zero law<\/strong><\/a> and help us make tackling poverty a legal requirement, not just a policy priority.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income.\u00a0To support our work buy a copy of the magazine<\/a>\u00a0or get the app from the\u00a0App Store<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Google Play<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAcross every council area, too many families and individuals are finding themselves locked out of access to social…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[61822,6332,6333,1144,18266,13977,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-143102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-homeless","9":"tag-homelessness","10":"tag-housing","11":"tag-northern-ireland","12":"tag-poverty","13":"tag-social-housing","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114594734706263503","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}