Social housing crisis leaving people in desperation

SDLP councillor Brian Tierney has said a new survey has shown just how desperate the situation is for people in Derry on social housing waiting lists.

Cllr Tierney, who represents the Ballyarnett ward, recently conducted a ‘Derry Housing Survey’ online and asked local people to share their experiences.

Among the findings of those surveyed were 73 per cent of people were on waiting lists for over a year, while 21 per cent had been on a waiting list for more than five years and Cllr Tierney insisted that families across the city were being let down by a failure to build social housing.

He said: “Everyone in Derry knows how bad the housing situation is and it has only gotten worse in the last few years.

“For decades we have been fighting to ensure that everyone in this city has a home to call their own and that aim just seems to be getting further and further away from us.

“I launched this survey to try and give a voice to the ordinary people who are impacted by our disgracefully long social housing waiting lists.

“The people who are forced to live with friends and family, in guest rooms and on sofas because they cannot afford rent or a deposit and the waiting lists just keep getting longer.

“We had a wide range of responses from people who share a common problem, they can’t get a home for them and their family.

“One respondent described how they had been waiting for a home for over 14 years, another has been waiting five years and is homeless with a young daughter.

“We have heard from people who are about to turn 30 and were put on a waiting list at 18, our community deserves better.

“It’s easy to talk about these issues – it’s well-trodden ground, but this is the human side, it is having a huge impact on people and affecting their physical and mental health.

“One respondent described how their brother died of pneumonia after being unable to obtain a home, and others have collapsed under the mental strain of being unable to secure adequate housing for them and their children.

“Despite the dire need for housing in our city and right across the North, nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

“Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has been all over the media congratulating herself, while she won’t even commit to building enough houses to deal with the current crisis.

“Her actions will provide little comfort to people on waiting lists who feel their dream of getting a home slipping further and further away.”