HOUSING associations handed over 1,449 new build homes across 82 social housing schemes in the last financial year, surpassing targets set by the Department for Communities.
The Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations (NIFHA) said work was also started on 1,956 new homes during 2022/23.
The body’s chief executive Seamus Leheny described it as ‘a remarkable achievement in the face of very significant economic challenges faced by the construction sector’.
Housing associations use private finance to match funding from the Department for Communities to deliver residential projects.
The north’s 20 housing associations manage around 57,000 homes.
There are currently more than 44,000 people on the housing waiting list, with more than 32,000 considered to be in housing stress.
The new data comes as NIFHA, the representative body for housing associations here, published its manifesto ahead of the local government elections.
The document sets out a number of areas where NIFHA say councils can support and improve the delivery of social housing across the north.
Key areas include the need to improve processing and consideration times for planning applications, and working with housing associations to identify more suitable land for new social homes.
“The need for more new social housing is clear right across Northern Ireland,” said Mr Leheny.
“And our members are faced with the challenge of delivering new projects in tight time frames, within limited budgets and often in the backdrop of an overburdened planning system.
“We are aware that there is much more to do. The housing waiting list is considerable and construction costs have risen significantly.
“What we want to see is the next social housing budget allocation matching the ambition and ability of the social housing sector to deliver on targets for new homes.
"Cuts to the housing budget at this time would be a retrograde step and would have long term implications for how we deal with housing waiting lists."
