Statement on housing in NI

Statement by the Northern Area Committee, Communist Party of Ireland

15 January 2013

The Communist Party of Ireland condemns outright the statement by Minister Nelson McCausland to abolish the NI Housing Executive. We view with alarm the inaction and even support of Sinn Féin for this policy that will affect up to 3,000 staff and a housing stock (currently) of 90,000 houses.

In reality public housing will be privatised and services will become more profit making oriented. The funding that is needed to refurbish and build new stock can be found if the political will is there. We say to all who fought for civil rights to revisit the principles of human rights to housing and to those who have since acknowledged that they too were badly done to, even in working class unionist areas housing amounted to slum housing. We ask where has the support for Unionists parties got the ordinary worker. We call on all right minded people to oppose the abolition of the NIHE and call on all politicians, in particular Sinn Féin, to oppose this decision.