Fundamental Review On Way For NIHE

The NI Social Development Minister, Alex Attwood has announced in the Assembly a fundamental review of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE).

This is the first review of the NIHE on this scale, in nearly 40 years of existence and he said that the NIHE has made massive improvements to the housing landscape in Northern Ireland.

He noted that housing unfitness levels are at an unprecedented low of 2%. However, its stock has greatly reduced from 190,000 to 85,000 and while it used to build thousands of houses, it no longer performs this function.

Alex Attwood said: "The Housing Executive has been a colossus since it came into being almost forty years ago. Its first House Conditions Survey revealed that one in five houses in Northern Ireland were unfit to live in. One in three houses needed significant repair. Forty per cent of people lived in a home that was unfit, in disrepair or lacked basic amenities.

"The Housing Executive has transformed housing conditions since then and unfitness currently stands at an all time low of 2.4% across all tenures with Housing Executive stock at 0.1%.

"The time is now right though for a major fundamental review of the Housing Executive to ensure that it is fit to discharge its housing and other responsibilities into the 21st century.

"I have therefore decided to commission this major fundamental review," he told MLAs.

In recent years the Housing Executive has moved into new areas of activity beyond housing including community development, urban regeneration, social care and energy efficiency.

The review will examine the housing and other functions of the Housing Executive in detail, providing a comprehensive assessment of their contribution to housing and other Government policy objectives. The review will also examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the Housing Executive's operations including the appropriateness of existing structures. The review will report on recommendations by March 2011.

This is separate from the Governance Audit into specific ongoing investigations into the Housing Executive.

(GK/KMcA)