1.  We welcome the valuable work being undertaken by the Promoting Social Inclusion (PSI) Working Group on Homelessness, particularly its engagement with voluntary groups working directly with homeless people. We urge the Minister to ensure that this report is published without further delay. (Paragraph 32)

2.  We are concerned at the evident confusion over the level of new social housing required in Northern Ireland and the annual target for new build housing. It is also wrong that the target has been arbitrarily reduced from 1,750 to 1,300 houses in the current year because funding has only been made available for the smaller number. This is particularly unfortunate when, despite strong evidence of escalating housing stress and homelessness, around £37 million annually from record levels of sales of existing Housing Executive stock is returned to the Treasury, when that could be used for the benefit of the homeless in Northern Ireland. (Paragraph 48)

3.  One of the conclusions of the recent Committee of Public Accounts report, Housing the Homeless was that "the Department must review urgently its projections for the number of new social housing units required, and the level of funding needed to provide them". We support that recommendation and urge the Minister to set clear and unequivocal targets for new social housing provision, and to ensure the provision of an appropriate level of funding to meet those targets. (Paragraph 49)

4.  The draft Policy and Planning Statement (PPS12) 'Housing in Settlements' has the potential to make a significant impact on the supply of land for social and affordable housing and was issued for a three-month consultation in November 2002. We are extremely concerned that, almost two years later, it has not been finalised. We urge John Spellar, Minister with responsibility for regional development, to explore the reasons for this unacceptable delay, and to ensure that it is finalised and issued without delay. (Paragraph 62)

5.  We recognise the potential for the planning system, through Article 40 agreements under the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, to contribute to the provision of social and affordable housing and to promote mixed tenure developments, and we urge that greater use of such agreements is made by Departments where appropriate. (Paragraph 65)

6.  We recognise the practical difficulties faced by the Department of the Environment in dealing with large numbers of objections to Area Plans, but are concerned that the 2006 target for completion of all Area Plans (itself a slipped deadline) is unlikely to be met. The establishment of Area Plans is of critical importance in identifying land for social and affordable housing against a background of growing need. We urge the Minister to review the current state of all Area Plans and to take appropriate steps to ensure that the 2006 target is achieved. The prospect of new legislation to speed up the process of public inquiries in the longer term is welcome but will not address the short term difficulty. (Paragraph 71)

7.  We have noted with alarm the systemic failure of housing associations to meet the targets for new build social housing over recent years. The review undertaken by the Department for Social Development of the difficulties faced by housing associations will have a limited impact. It is our conviction that a root and branch review of the management of social housing in Northern Ireland is long overdue and we call on the Minister to initiate one. (Paragraph 76)

8.  We believe that there would be merit in giving the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) oversight of the new build programme together with a greater role on land identification. We also call for serious consideration to be given to returning some responsibility for the new build programme to NIHE, with appropriate powers to raise private finance. (Paragraph 77)

9.  We are deeply disappointed that a major study into the future management of social housing in Northern Ireland, commissioned in October 2000, has been the subject of serious delay and has not yet been published. We call on the Minister to publish the HACAS Chapman Hendy Report as a matter of urgency to encourage wide public debate on the options for the future management of social housing. (Paragraph 78)

10.  The House Sales Scheme has been in operation for 25 years and has helped many people on low incomes to become homeowners. This is welcome. However, over the period the stock of social houses has shrunk alarmingly and more social houses have been sold than remain in NIHE ownership. We believe that the recent revision of elements of the House Sales Scheme was a missed opportunity to carry out a fundamental review of the entire Scheme. In particular, we are greatly concerned at the absence of any serious attempt to measure the likely impact of the sales policy on the future provision of social housing. (Paragraph 87)

11.  We also found no indication that in undertaking the review of the House Sales Scheme, the Department for Social Development has given consideration to the recent authoritative research commissioned by the NIHE and carried out by the University of Ulster and the University of Birmingham. That research had called for consideration of a range of alternative sales options. (Paragraph 88)

12.  We welcome the research being taken forward by NIHE of existing co-ownership participants to consider if alternative options were available to purchasing a home through the co-ownership scheme. This should provide evidence for the first time of the impact of the co-ownership scheme on social housing waiting lists. (Paragraph 92)

13.  We recommend that consideration is given to the merits of assessing all applicants for co-ownership under the common selection scheme to ensure that the scheme is addressing real need and having an impact on waiting lists. (Paragraph 93)

14.  We are concerned at the erratic and uncertain level of funding provided for co-ownership over recent years. In view of its success, and given the Northern Ireland Co-ownership Housing Association's contention that it is a net contributor to the social housing budget, we find this approach difficult to understand. We recommend that a realistic and sustained level of funding is provided to ensure that the co-ownership scheme can continue to develop (Paragraph 96)

15.  The Northern Ireland Co-ownership Scheme, operated by the Northern Ireland Co-ownership Housing Association, has an impressive record having helped around 18,000 people into home ownership over the past 26 years. Its main strength is that there is a single scheme in Northern Ireland operated by a single organisation with a proven track record. We believe that the success of the Co-ownership Scheme in Northern Ireland provides a valuable example for the Housing Corporation in its consideration of how to improve the shared ownership scheme in England. (Paragraph 98)

16.  In view of the concerns expressed about the escalating cost of housing benefit in recent years, we welcome the Department's research into the relationship between housing benefit levels and expansion of private renting. (Paragraph 103)

17.  We recognise the increasingly important role played by the private rented sector in meeting housing need across Northern Ireland, and we particularly welcome the recent publication of the strategic framework for the sector by the Department for Social Development and NIHE. We were pleased to see that the strategy has been developed in consultation with relevant stakeholders and that there appears to be a high degree of commitment on the part of government to its implementation. (Paragraph 106)

18.  Some concerns have been expressed to us about the level of fitness standards to be used in the proposed new legislation to improve housing conditions in the private sector; and there was also a call for provision of rent guaranteed tenancy deposit schemes which could assist homeless people in gaining access to the private rented sector. We welcome the prospect of legislative proposals and will wish to scrutinise these in due course. (Paragraph 107)

19.  Fuel poverty is recognised as a major problem in Northern Ireland. The high level of Northern Ireland Housing Executive homes that would have failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard on thermal comfort grounds is a cause for considerable concern. We welcome the development of a Fuel Poverty Strategy and the ongoing action being taken to tackle the issue through fuel switching. (Paragraph 112)

20.  We call on the Minister to develop and introduce as a matter of urgency a comprehensive and challenging housing quality standard for Northern Ireland with appropriate targets and funding. (Paragraph 114)

21.  We recognise the substantial benefits for people with disabilities in having all new dwellings built to Lifetime Homes standard as well as the potential longer term savings on the cost of adaptations. We call on Ian Pearson, the Minister with responsibility for Finance and Personnel, to introduce the Lifetime Homes standard as soon as possible by amending the relevant building regulations (Paragraph 118)

22.  We welcome the assurance that the work of the Sustainable Buildings Task Force in Great Britain is being monitored. We urge Angela Smith, the Minister with responsibility for the Environment, in consultation with other Departments, to consider making a public commitment to extend the Code for Sustainable Building to Northern Ireland at the earliest opportunity. (Paragraph 124)

23.  Our inquiry has shown the dedication and commitment of many in the housing sector. This has resulted in difficulties with the new build programme being tackled, innovative work by Northern Ireland Housing Executive to pilot integrated housing schemes and strategy development for the private rented sector, fuel poverty, and other issues. But much more remains to be done. (Paragraph 125)

24.  If urgent action is not taken a crisis in the supply of social housing seems inevitable. The number of people on the Common Waiting List has increased significantly, particularly those who are in housing stress and those who are homeless. 26,700 people are currently seeking social housing, of whom nearly half are in housing stress. The number of homeless households increased by 16% last year to 16,426. At the same time, the supply of social housing is falling dramatically due mainly to house sales where the number sold exceeds the remaining NIHE stock. The present situation has been exacerbated through the failure over recent years to meet the targets for new building. A balance of supply and demand needs to be achieved as a matter of urgency. (Paragraph 126)

25.  The general perception that the overall quality of housing in Northern Ireland is good masks problems such as high levels of unfitness in the private rented sector and high levels of fuel poverty. The absence of a challenging quality standard in the social housing sector is a cause for concern. (Paragraph 127)

26.  Our greatest concern is that policies on many housing issues such as the house sales scheme, the co-ownership scheme, and the private rented sector have been developed in isolation with insufficient assessment of their overall impact on the general provision of housing in Northern Ireland. In addition, responsibility for housing issues ranges across at least four departments which makes co-ordination across government difficult. The Social Development Minister indicated that a number of the issues we raised were the responsibility of Ministerial colleagues. (Paragraph 128)

27.  We call on the Government to develop a strong and inclusive regional housing strategy setting out a vision for housing in Northern Ireland along the lines, for example, of the National Housing Strategy for Wales. The fundamental objective must be to ensure that housing strategy development and delivery is fully co-ordinated with all other key regional and local policies and strategies (Paragraph 129)