Public housing fury
SDLP blasts British government over allocation of social homes
By Eamonn Houston
26/06/2006
The British government was last night accused of ‘disgraceful complacency’ in its allocation of public housing in the North.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan said he had complained to the direct-rule secretary of state, Peter Hain, about the Department of Social Development (DSD) as a result of what he termed ‘serious inequalities’ in the allocation of public housing.
Mr Durkan said he had obtained figures which highlighted how Catholics were being discriminated against when trying to secure public housing.
The figures revealed that:
- in south Belfast, 39 per cent of those on the waiting list for public housing were Catholic but none of those who got housing were Catholic in that quarter;
- in north Belfast, 74 per cent of those waiting for housing were Catholic, but only 36 per cent of those who got housing were Catholic;
- in west Belfast 72 per cent of those waiting for housing were Catholic, but only 40 per cent of those allocated housing were Catholic;
- in the North as a whole, 48 per cent of those waiting for housing were Catholic, but only 35 per cent of those getting housing were Catholic.
Mr Durkan stated: “Unfairness in the allocation of public housing was one of the key causes of the Troubles. You would expect then that the Department of Social Development would be worried to find inequalities now, but instead DSD thinks there isn’t even a problem.”
The SDLP said the situation was not ‘old style discrimination’ but he claimed that its effect was the same.
Mr Durkan said: “Catholics in need are not getting housing on equal terms.
“The problem is caused by the fact that Catholics cannot move into vacant housing in Protestant areas for fear of attack.
“Meanwhile, little new public housing is being built to accommodate growing demand. So Catholics are left with nowhere to go.
“Faced with this problem you would expect action from the Department of Social Development, but they have not drawn up a strategy to deal with it.
“Worse, they don’t even think there is a problem and freely admit that they have not even done an assessment of the issue.
“In response to a parliamentary question they even stated: “No assessment is made as housing is allocated on the basis of need.”
“But the reality is that there are Catholics in equal need of housing and just not getting it.”
No one from DSD was available yesterday to comment on Mr Durkan’s accusations.
