Policy work at Housing Rights Service
Home
About Us
Making a difference
Learning & Events
Policy

Bookmark this page

Tackling housing debt and affordability Print E-mail

The problem of housing debt is escalating in Northern Ireland. Financial crisis is an important trigger to homelessness and reaching a stable situation is vital in protecting against the risk of homelessness.

We first became involved in the provision of housing debt advice in the early 1990s when interest rates, and also the number of homes being repossessed, were at record levels. Today, demand for our service is higher than ever. We have seen a 300% increase in the number of people seeking help with mortgage or secured loan arrears.

Why do people get into housing debt?
What is being done to tackle the problem?
What does Housing Rights Service want to see happen?
Key debt statistics

Why do people get into housing debt?

People can get into housing debt for a variety of reasons:

  • Change in circumstances like job loss, reduction in working hours, sickness or relationship breakdown 
  • Accessing high cost credit/mortgages from non traditional lenders and securing it on their homes
  • Over-borrowing during the property boom.

What is being done to tackle the problem in Northern Ireland?

Unlike in Britain, Northern Ireland does not have a not for profit mortgage rescue scheme. The NI Executive has contracted Housing Rights Service to provide a free Mortgage Debt Advice Service.

The NI Court Service has also produced guidelines for lenders known as Pre Action Protocols for Mortgage Possession Proceedings. They have been in operation since October 2009 and were revised in August 2011 .  The Protocols should ensure that possession action against homeowners is taken only as a last possible resort.

What does Housing Rights Service want to see happen?

We want to see the following:

  • funding made available to finance the capital element of the mortgage rescue scheme to enable the purchase of homes and
  • more affordable credit options being made available.

We have developed a Preventing Possession Initiative to tackle the growing problem of over indebtedness. We have produced a policy briefing paper on financial inclusion and housing debt in Northern Ireland which is available for download.

Key debt statistics

  • During 2010, a total of 3390 mortgage possession actions were taken by lenders in NI - a decrease of 15% from 2009.
  • However, in the first quarter of 2011 there were 856 actions for possession, presenting an 11% increase in the same period in the previous year.
All of the above are from The Northern Ireland Court Service statistics.