Ards District Housing Plan 2013 - Northern Ireland Housing Executive

Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) present another affordable housing option,
most commonly availed of by single benefit claimants, low income households,
students and migrant workers. Welfare reform may result in increased demand for
HMOs as housing benefit is reduced for households in under-occupation.
2.4 Social housing
The housing need assessment 2012-2017 identified a need for 620 additional units of
social housing in Ards Borough (see Appendix 3). During 2012/13, work continued
on 72 units of social housing and a
further 17 units commenced in the
borough. Whilst 133 units of social
housing were delivered, demand for
this tenure outstrips supply. Housing
stress continues to increase in Ards
Borough. In the past year, the most
significant increase has been in single
applicants. This trend may be
attributable to the aforementioned
changes to housing benefit. Waiting
list statistics at December 2012 are
detailed in Table 3. Notable
information includes:
• Housing stress has risen since April 2012; 56% of applicants are in housing stress;
• 46% of housing stress applicants are single, 23.3% elderly and 19.6% small families;
• Annual allocations increased by 25.7% since March 2012, inflated by the high
level of social housing new build in the borough;
• Between 2011/12 and 2012/13, the number of homeless applications decreased
by 2.7%, although the number of applicants awarded Full Duty status increased
by 12.9%.
At March 2013 Housing Executive stock in Newtownards District comprised 3,893
dwellings (see Appendix 5), including 23 voids pending allocation. With the onset of
the Welfare Reform Bill, the
Housing Executive is
committed to finding suitable
alternative accommodation
for those tenants who will have
their housing benefit restricted
through under occupation and
wish to downsize. We aim to
deliver 200 one bed units in
each year of the Social
Housing Development
Programme (2013/16) to help
meet the anticipated increase
in demand for smaller dwellings.
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