Speaking after plans to reform the Housing Executive were announced by Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín, People Before Profit Cllr Eamonn McCann said:“The announcement that the Housing Executive will in future be allowed to borrow to build new houses is welcome.
“The efforts on the ground of the public sector union, Nipsa, tenants’ organisations and groups like People Before Profit have been crucial in forcing the change. These efforts have been vindicated.
“But the new proposals fall short of what’s needed.
“On one key issue, the privatisation of the landlord function of the NIHE, the proposals rehash policies brought in by the DUP’s Nelson McCausland from 2013.
“McCausland made no bones about it that he wanted to take the whole NIHE into the private sector – but seemed to have had no idea how to go about it. The Communities Minister has now found a way to relocate a major housing function out of the public sector.
“The Department now talks of a “mutual/co-operative model” – which sounds fine. But the proposal depends on access to “Financial Transaction Capital,” which in turn means that the new “landlord” body would have to be a private sector entity.
“This is what Nipsa argued most strongly against in its report earlier this year. On this crucial matter, the union’s view has been ignored.
“The proposal on the table would take the relevant functions of the NIHE out of the public sector. That’s privatisation.
“Only a public-sector entity answerable to public representatives can meet the needs of the almost 30,000 families on the waiting list.
“The campaign for an adequate housing system will have to continue.”
ENDS