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The CEO of NI Housing Executive has called for “urgent” borrowing powers amid a stark warning that thousands of people could face a hike in rents.
Grainia Long raised her rental income concerns as she delivered her first annual investment plan report to Newry, Mourne and Down District Council yesterday, 26 August.
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) was told the NIHE had a total spend of £81.5m in the area in the last year alone.
A total of £7.22m was invested in Housing Executive properties through planned maintenance and stock improvements during 2024/25. A further proposed spend of £7.00m is planned for Housing Executive homes across the district in 2025/26.
Last year £14.90m was invested specifically on energy efficiency improvement measures across our homes with plans to sustain this investment during 2025/26.
Ms Long said: “When I will talk to councils again next year, there will be a gap between what our rent can fund and what we can deliver in terms of our investment plan.
“I am very, very worried that we are just on the cusp of a quite substantial downturn of what we can invest in our stock, unless our rent keeps pace with that investment requirements.
“I am not just saying this in this council, I will be saying this across all 11 councils and it is a really, really significant risk ahead.”
The NIHE is one of the largest social housing landlords in the UK and manages approximately 85k homes it calls its ‘stock’.
The Housing Executive has identified a need for almost 25,000 new social houses between 2023 and 2028 with temporary accommodation now a main driver in its targets.
She added: “The need for the NIHE landlord to be given borrowing powers, which we have all spoken about for some time, is really, really urgent now, we have run out of road in terms of what we can spend unless we are given borrowing powers.
“The NIHE reserves are just not sustainable, there isn’t enough capital available for us to fund the programme of improvement to our stock we need over several years.
“The average weekly rent of a Housing Executive home is £80 /week and you could not rent a similar house in the private sector for £320/ month. You certainly could not manage and maintain a property for that. We always must look at affordability and we have been looking at that and there is sufficient headroom…it’s about getting the balance right, but there is no question our rents are currently too low to be able to invest in our stock.
“We will have to be making very difficult decisions as a landlord in terms of what we invest and how we invest in our homes very urgently.”
The chamber was told that a NIHE stock survey of its stock is due to be launched later this year.
The housing authority has now also been given “additional powers” to seek out hundreds of temporary accommodation units across NI.
The CEO said: “We do have a really important survey of our stock taking place this year for tenants to take part in and that will allow us to gather data on performance and condition of our stock
“We have been given additional powers to acquire properties for temporary accommodation of 600 new properties and that will be across all councils and we will now begin purchasing those.
“We are now a very large landlord. Our investment in our stock is hugely important for our tenants to keep them safe, warm and dry, for their wellbeing and also to maintain the fabric of the properties. We need to see that investment increase.
“That is entirely dependent on rent and rental income. And rent must keep pace with our investment need. It hasn’t over the last decade.
“We are certainly under very severe pressure in terms of the level of rent we need versus the level of investment we have.”
