NI minister shares housing ideas with NY chiefs

A Stormont minister has briefed New York housing chiefs on the power-sharing executive’s bid to build more than 5,000 new social and affordable homes in three years and tackle segregation.

During a visit to New York, Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie toured Harlem and met officials from the city’s housing department – the largest municipal developer of affordable housing in the United States.

The minister said: “In Harlem, people are trying to move away from simply pouring public money into building and renovating properties.

“They are seeking to be more imaginative in the ways they finance social and affordable housing and have developed innovative community revitalisation initiatives that promote private investment and productive public/private partnerships.

“There may be much that we can learn from them that could be of benefit for Northern Ireland and they were also very keen to be briefed on the new housing agenda.

“Harlem is, after all, a severely segregated area and the Americans were keen to explore initiatives we have put in place towards a shared future.”

Last month Ms Ritchie unveiled a daring plan in the Assembly to significantly reduce the number of people on housing waiting lists, tackle homelessness and help people get their feet on the first rung of the property ladder.

The South Down MLA announced moves to make co-ownership schemes more attractive for first-time buyers, allow public housing tenants to buy a stake in their homes, introduce a not-for-profit mortgage rescue scheme, build an eco-village on the site of an Army barracks outside Enniskillen and increase energy efficiency in new social houses.

The SDLP minister also revealed developers would be asked to contribute to the provision of social and affordable homes by either earmarking a fifth of their site to them during the planning process, or by providing another site for them or equivalent funds.

An empty homes strategy will also be introduced to encourage those who own vacant property to bring them back into use.

In New York, mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced a $3.2bn (€2bn) commitment to create and preserve more than 165,000 houses and apartments by 2013.

During her visit, Ms Ritchie has been keen to learn from the mayor’s ambitious programme.

She also met New York City speaker Christine Quinn and Laura Lazurus, deputy commissioner for housing development in New York City.