Alliance Housing spokesperson Kellie Armstrong MLA has stated that a lack of investment in prevention and the continuation of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive's (NIHE) Right to Buy Scheme are intensifying the region's homelessness issues.

The Strangford MLA made the comments following a Public Accounts Committee inquiry, which suggested amending the scheme to protect housing levels and address the rising rate of homelessness.

Highlighting the scale of the problem, Ms Armstrong said: "The number of homeless families on the social housing waiting list has skyrocketed by over 10,000 during the last 5 years, and this has devastating consequences for people's quality of life and wellbeing, including a significant number of children.

"There is no statutory duty to prevent homelessness, therefore investment into sustaining tenancies through the Supporting People programme has not increased to meet need. That has to change if we are to address the homelessness crisis." Ms Armstrong argued that the ongoing sale of hundreds of NIHE properties annually is "utter madness" given the current shortage of available homes. While acknowledging the desire for home ownership, she stressed that the current model is unsustainable for a social housing provider.

She continued: "Everyone should have a meaningful chance to own their own home, but it is also plainly obvious that it is unsustainable for NIHE, a social home provider, to be depleting the limited stock it does have when the result is more and more people languishing in temporary accommodation, on housing waiting lists, experiencing homelessness or forced into private rental accommodation that they can't afford."

The Alliance Party has reiterated its call for a freeze on new applications to the Right to Buy Scheme. Ms Armstrong urged the Minister to use his powers to implement an urgent pause on sales until the social housing sector reaches a more stable position.

The MLA concluded: "Last year, Alliance called for a freeze on new applications to the Right to Buy Scheme and we would reiterate that call today. There needs to be an urgent pause on the selling of this stock until such time as Northern Ireland's social housing environment is on a much more stable footing. The Minister has the power to take this decisive action and it is critical that he does so without delay."