Lack of housing supply and infrastructure fuelling crisis, says Housing Council chair

The chair of the Northern Ireland Housing Council has underlined the importance of resolving Northern Ireland’s housing crisis in a bid to build stronger communities.

Knockagh Alliance councillor Aaron Skinner, who is also a member of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s Planning Committee, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service there are approximately 50,000 applicants on the Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s waiting list across Northern Ireland.

At the end of March 2025, there were 3,248 people on the Housing Executive waiting list in Mid and East Antrim. Of these, 2,458 were described as being in housing stress and living in unsuitable accommodation.

During the period, there were 239 allocations to single applicants, 29 to small adult households, 164 to small families, fewer than ten to large adult households, 33 to large families and 126 to older persons.

The Housing Executive said that 295 new social housing properties were under construction in Mid and East Antrim during the 2024/25 financial year at a cost of almost £11 million, with a further 195 social housing units planned across the borough.

Cllr Skinner went on to say the average house price in Mid and East Antrim is £206,000 and the average private monthly rent is £789. He estimated that rents are believed to have increased by 42 per cent over the past five years.

“The biggest driver of house prices is lack of supply. One of the biggest barriers to building new homes is a lack of wastewater infrastructure,” he added.

Knockagh Alliance councillor Aaron Skinner

Cllr Skinner suggested that if Northern Ireland Water were to break away from the Department for Infrastructure, it would allow the utility company to borrow the money required to invest in infrastructure improvements.

“There is unlikely to ever be enough money in the Northern Ireland budget to do what needs to be done. That would allow us to build the wastewater infrastructure we need to build the houses we need. Until we get more houses, we are going to keep having a housing crisis.”

The role of the Housing Council is as an advisory body to the Department for Communities.

“We meet monthly with the Housing Executive’s senior team to understand upcoming and emerging issues they are facing. Contractors are a big issue at the minute,” Cllr Skinner noted.

He commented that delays are being caused by workforce shortages and rising material costs, resulting in challenges for both planned and response maintenance programmes.

Cllr Skinner, who has been chair since September 2025 and previously served as vice-chair, also pointed out that privately owned investment properties which remain vacant are “pushing rental prices up” and “forcing people into homelessness”.

He indicated that the Housing Council is also examining the issue of Housing Executive succession rights, which he said has been raised by a number of constituents, with a meeting planned with Communities Minister Gordon Lyons.

Cllr Skinner continued:

“We can’t build proper communities until housing is sorted. Where you have really strong, resilient communities, it is because you have people who have lived in an area for a really long time and have invested their time and energy to build up the community and support it. But if you have a 12-month rental contract, you are not able to invest that time.

“If we can solve the housing crisis, we can build proper, united and resilient communities.”