A major drive to make unfit private housing in Northern Ireland a thing of the past was launched today.
The Housing Executive has published proposals for the most radical shake-up in grants for over a decade creating more scope to successfully target home improvements.
Private housing accounts for 80 per cent of the 650,000 homes in Northern Ireland and latest figures show 28,000 privately owned homes are unfit to live in.
The Executive currently spends around £40 million a year in grant aid to bring properties up to scratch.
There has been a vast improvement in the housing stock in the past 30 years and now the Executive want to make the final push.
In the early 1970's 20 per cent of all private homes were officially unfit for human habitation - that has been reduced to 4.9 per cent, much of it in rural areas.
The Executive said the improvement showed the grant system was working, but now they were revamping it to improve things even more.
The new grants scheme has key objectives for private sector accommodation:
- to reduce unfitness.
- to prevent properties from becoming unfit by tackling disrepair.
- to enable the elderly, disabled and vulnerable to live safely in accommodation suitable to their needs.
- to support urban and rural regeneration strategies in line with the Government's `Targeting Social Need' policy.
Dr John McPeake, the Housing Executive's Design and Property Services Director, said: "These proposals will allow the Housing Executive to take a more strategic approach to tackling housing conditions in the private sector than is possible under the current scheme."
Most repairs and improvements in the sector are carried out by homeowners and private landlords themselves - some £350 - £400 million a year.
However a report from the Housing Executive said there remained a number of people who were unable to keep their homes in a proper state of repair.
"This is an important public policy issue as it is well documented that poor quality housing can have a detrimental impact on the health and safety of occupants." said the report.
PA