E-Blast - Issue 2 - Northern Ireland Housing Executive (Apr 2013)

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e blast NIPSA Youth E-zine

April 2013

Did you really think that no one would notice Minister?

At the start of the year, while everyone’s attention was on the ongoing protests across many of our towns and cities, the Minister for Social Development, Nelson McCausland, in a stunning attempt at sleight of hand, announced his intention to abolish the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

Did you really think that no one would notice, Minister?

We are vigilant.

We were listening. On behalf of the NIPSA Youth Committee, Vice-chair TiarnĂĄn Millar has penned an open letter to the Minister, expressing our concerns and opposition.

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Dear Minister, I am writing to you in connection with your announcement on 9 January 2012 signalling your intention to effectively abolish the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), establish three separate bodies to cover its existing functions, and contract out to private sector housing associations some of NIHE’s current duties.

“NIHE is one of the success stories from Northern Ireland’s recent history. Since its introduction … it has delivered significant social benefits throughout Northern Ireland with the quality of the housing stock having moved from one of the worst in Western Europe to what is now regarded as best quality stock.

It is rightly regarded nationally and internationally as a leading authority on ‘best practice’ on both housing management and community building, with an unrivalled track record of cohesion and safety initiatives.”

Those are not my words, Minister. Those words form the first paragraph of the ‘Review of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive: Options for Future Service Delivery’, a report compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) at the behest of your predecessor, Alex Attwood.

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive is a bastion of social justice, and arguably the most important and positive legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles. For 40 years, the men and women of the NIHE have strived continuously to improve the living conditions of those in Northern Ireland’s most deprived areas, providing grants for home improvements and putting a roof over the heads of families during the darkest days of our recent past.

In its September 2011 document, NIPSA made clear that, as Northern Ireland’s largest trade union and a key stakeholder in the Housing Executive, it had not been consulted on the PwC review.

Furthermore, NIPSA believes that PwC’s claim to “ensure that [the report] was a joint venture by all parties” is seriously flawed, given that the authors of the report failed to consult with NIPSA at any stage. The perception that something is being “done to” the Housing Executive rings truer than the implied perception, as illustrated by PwC, that something is being “done with” the Housing Executive. We find it incomprehensible that a review of the Housing Executive, supposedly with all the key stakeholders, could take place with the glaring omission of the trade union that represents the majority of NIHE staff.

The Housing Executive currently employs some 3,000 staff. However, the PwC report shows that the new bodies would require only 1,886 full-time equivalents, representing a loss of around 1,000 jobs.

It must also be a worrying development for the NIHE’s 90,000 tenants, who now face the prospect of increased rents, paid primarily to private sector, profit-making housing associations. The question of security of tenure is an additional worry for NIHE tenants, many of whom have lived in the same property for most of their lives.

The Westminster Government’s bedroom tax, due to take effect in April 2013, will place an increased burden on Housing Executive tenants, 80% of whom are in receipt of either full or partial housing benefit. With family sizes in Northern Ireland being traditionally larger than those in Great Britain, the provision of single-bedroom social housing in the Province is quite low, resulting in no other option but a cut to housing benefit for many tenants.

The societal consequences of this attack are staggering. Grown children will be pressured into remaining in the family home for longer; some families will be financially forced into bringing strangers into their homes; and many others will simply have to take a cut to their benefits to cover the so-called luxury of a spare bedroom.

The effects on young people will be even more pronounced. Those who still find themselves priced out of home ownership, despite the collapse of the housing market, will be faced with little option but to stay at home or enter the private rental sector, where they will be charged exuberant rents for properties far below NIHE standards. We now face the prospect of a generation of young adults who find themselves without jobs, without good-quality, affordable housing, and, should they decide to go to university, a lifetime of debt.

The trade union position remains clear: affordable social housing; the investment of public money in existing stock to ensure that it is fully and appropriately maintained; recognition that government should provide decent, affordable social housing; and the maintenance of the NIHE as a single public housing authority for Northern Ireland. The NIHE is the best service model for the task at hand. It is within the remit of HM Treasury to lift the restrictions on the Housing Executive.

That would enable the NIHE to build and maintain the high-quality, affordable social housing that is needed in many areas.

The Northern Ireland Executive’s past flirtations with privatisation have not been a success. One only has to look at the outsourcing of Human Resources to Capita to see that the only beneficiaries of the masses of public money poured into the HR Connect project were, indeed, Capita themselves.

Northern Ireland Water has not been without issues following its change to a government-owned company. And within the Housing Executive itself, the controversy surrounding Red Sky could hardly be considered a PR success.

Minister, our message is clear:

NIPSA will continue to oppose privatisation, strive to protect jobs and fight to keep social housing in the public sector.

Yours,

TiarnĂĄn Millar, Vice-chair, NIPSA Youth Committee