People Before Profit spokesperson Shaun Harkin said
“50 years ago people marched in Derry and across the North for the right to a house. One of the great achievements of the Civil Rights movement was the establishment of the Housing Executive to provide inexpensive social homes for all. However, the recent presentation by Housing Executive representatives to the Derry and Strabane Council makes clear the right to a house has been seriously undermined.
1,200 households in the Derry and Strabane area – individuals and families – are listed as statutorily homeless but not enough houses are being built to give them a home. Compounding this crisis, the needs of people with complex housing needs are being ignored.
The Stormont Executive attempted to gut the Housing Executive by cutting off funding for investment and by promoting unaccountable Housing Associations. All the big parties went along with this corrupt Tory inspired policy. As a result, there is a housing crisis. Across the North, more than 12,000 households – individuals and families – are considered homeless.
We should do all we can to help individuals and families get the house they need now — but that won’t end the crisis. The plan to destroy the Housing Executive must be scrapped. The attempt to transfer social housing over to more expensive Housing Associations needs to end. The Housing Executive must have access to the funding it requires to build the number of houses that are actually needed and to invest in renovations of its existing housing stock. This is the solution to the housing crisis but it requires political will to take on the logic of privatisation and outsourcing.
Politics as usual have created this crisis. That passivity must end. The right to a house is a civil right. We need to be on the streets for housing rights as we were in 1968.
Ends.
Shaun can be reached on 07960404137
There Is A Solution To The Housing Crisis
