Ulster Unionist Social Development Spokesperson, Michael Copeland MLA, has revealed that the recently announced £8million additional funding for the Co-Ownership Scheme is not in fact new money and was only available after Nelson McCausland’s Department failed to spend the same amount in the crucial Social Housing Development Programme.
The East Belfast representative said;
“The Social Development Minister and his colleagues are fooling no one with their pretence that this is new money for housing in Northern Ireland. Whilst I and my Party strongly support the Co-Ownership Scheme, it is wrong for the Minister to try to use it to cover his failings in regards to the construction of homes.
I found the statement that they had succeeded in finding an additional £8million funding for the housing co-ownership scheme to be bizarre when you consider that when I questioned the Minister in September about the rumours of his Department significantly under spending in the Social Housing Development Programme that at that stage he was ‘seeking, through the October Monitoring Round, to reallocate this funding to the Co-Ownership Scheme.
The Ulster Unionist Party are on record for saying that there are not enough new social houses being built in Northern Ireland each year. The Minister may believe that building 1,825 new homes this year is sufficient but when one considers that there over 30,000 applicants registered on the social housing waiting list, with over 20,000 of those deemed to be in housing stress, then it is anything but. The fact that the Minister failed to spend £8million on this crucial Programme is a damning indictment on his abilities to tackle the huge problems of unsuitable housing and homelessness facing his Department.
This money should have been spent on expanding our social housing targets, which would have also greatly boosted our struggling construction industry, instead of simply being put into a scheme which at present has even suspended their usual quota system for applications.
The Minister should stop the pretence that this is somehow new money.”
AQW 14784/11-15 Mr Michael Copeland Ulster Unionist Party East Belfast
Tabled Date: 26/09/2012 Answered On Date: 12/10/2012 Priority Written: No
Question: To ask the Minister for Social Development to explain the level of underspend in the Social Housing Development Programme; and how this has impacted on construction targets.
Answer:
An £8 million underspend in the Social Housing Development Programme has been identified in the current financial year; I am seeking, through the October Monitoring Round, to reallocate this funding to the Co-Ownership Scheme.