Given the lack of available social housing, Housing Rights appreciates the need for urgent action to address the growing waiting list for social housing and, in particular, the needs of people who are experiencing homelessness and waiting for unacceptably long periods for a new home.
Housing Rights believes however that the sub sector of the private rented sector which would typically be accessible to homeless households provides neither an appropriate nor reasonable response to this problem. Indeed, over recent years loss of rented accommodation has consistently been one of the top three causes of homelessness in Northern Ireland.2