Housing strategy 'could unite nationalists and loyalists'

A Socialist Party delegate has told the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in Dublin that a proper public housing strategy could help overcome sectarianism and community division in the North.

Peter Hadden said that both nationalist and loyalist communities are facing the same housing problems and a proper strategy for addressing these problems could help unite the two sides.

"Twenty years ago there were 240,000 Housing Executive homes. This has now fallen to 120,000," he said.

"Rather than have confrontation over access to houses and over territory, initiatives need to be taken to unite people on both sides to fight for a common solution to this problem."