Looking to the future as Housing Rights turns 60

With 60 years’ experience, Housing Rights can conclusively say that high quality, independent housing advice changes lives, writes CEO, Kate McCauley.

As the leading provider of housing advice in Northern Ireland, our advisers change lives every day. Last year, amid a cost-of-living crisis, our advice services helped 13,517 households and we directly prevented 1,398 households becoming homeless.

First established in 1964, in response to the appalling housing difficulties linked with widespread slum clearance in Belfast, our founders understood the urgency in addressing the immediate hardship many in the city faced.

Six decades later, we work throughout Northern Ireland within communities and across sectors with our services extending from advice, advocacy, and representation to policy and capacity building. Whilst our work has grown and the backdrop has changed significantly, many people still have difficulty finding and keeping a home that meets their needs.

Poverty remains inextricably linked with homelessness. Housing conditions, while dramatically improved overall, still have a debilitating impact on health and wellbeing for people on the lowest incomes. Legal and policy protections can and should go further.

The communities we serve, face real and pressing challenges

The experience of the pandemic and the economic shock which followed have not been felt evenly across society. Recent research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that housing costs take up three-and-a-half times as much of the budgets of low-income households, compared to those on a high-income with significant implications for living standards.

The stubborn challenge of poverty is now matched by a profound crisis in housing supply. Over the last 20 years, there has been a 72 per cent increase in the number of people in need of social housing. In the same period, the number of homes allocated to those on the housing waiting list, has fallen by one third. Last year, there were more temporary accommodation placements than at any time since records began.

New threats, posed by the impact of climate change, risk deepening long standing inequalities in housing. Extreme weather events, including flooding are increasing and we want to ensure that the needs of those most in need of our services are not left behind in the ‘race to net zero’. This provides a new lens for our focus on affordability and poor housing standards. In an updated report (February 2024), the Institute for Health Equity (IHE) has noted that despite improvements in housing insulation since 2011, just over half of all households in the UK are living in energy inefficient housing. This, the IHE states, together with excessive costs of fuel and increasing poverty, means that more of the population are at risk from the poor health and mortality associated with cold homes than when their first report was published more than a decade ago.

Our work has never been more needed

We recognise the challenges ahead, but we are encouraged by our track record in effecting positive change. As an independent charity with strong links across the community and voluntary sectors, we see the value in and results of effective collaboration. We are proud of our work with others, and we have proven ourselves to be an important delivery partner for government.

“The stubborn challenge of poverty is now matched by a profound crisis in housing supply.”

Innovating through experience and data insights

We are values led and solution focused. We know that we must continue to be agile and innovate, so we can best meet the needs of the communities we serve. Going forward, we will shape inclusive, prevention focused services by working with and through communities. We intend to build on our track record of involving people affected by poor housing and homelessness. For a long time, we have involved ‘experts by experience’ in the delivery of our services, such as our peer advice work in Northern Ireland’s three prisons.

This experience has taught us that the services we deliver are better when they are designed in partnership with the people who use them. Our new strategy, which itself was informed by the insights from people affected by poor housing and homelessness, commits to increasing our work in this area.

Developments in technology and insights from data will help us make the best use of limited resources. We are already using these advancements to make it easier for people who need our help to access it. Our online advice and information content has been completely rewritten and we provide advice across multiple channels. This year, we are excited about our partnership with Altair, who we have commissioned to help us make better use of the data we hold. We want our services to be more responsive and evidence informed, and we know that timely and accessible data is a key enabler for this. Strategically, we also know that data about the level and nature of need for our services is also a key indicator about how well government housing policy is working. We consistently ensure that our contribution to public policy development is informed by the experience of the people we serve, and we are working hard to strengthen this evidence base further.

Looking forwards

As we look forwards, we feel the same urgency and commitment as our founders did to ensuring everyone has a home. We remain steadfast in our determination to provide quality services which prevent homelessness and help people with their housing problems.

T: 028 9024 5640
W: www.housingrights.org.uk