Housing Association FAQs

A housing association is an independent, not-for-profit social business that provides both homes and support for people in housing need, as well as key community services. In Northern Ireland, housing associations vary in size from those with fewer than 100 homes to those providing more than 5,000.

They are major providers of social and affordable housing in, providing more than 53,000 social and affordable homes.

Housing associations build virtually all Northern Ireland’s new social homes.  Since the economic downturn began, housing associations have delivered an increasing share of all new homes built here.

Housing associations also work to build strong communities, investing significantly in neighbourhood services, ranging from anti-social behaviour initiatives to supported employment programmes and IT classes. Ultimately, housing associations make communities better places to live and are important partners for public sector and community organisations.

Housing associations provide homes to a wide range of people including families and single people.

For social housing, our members work with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) to allocate homes to households from a shared waiting list managed by the NIHE.  All households in need of a home must complete a common housing application form which is returned to the NIHE for assessment according to the housing selection scheme’s criteria.

For co-ownership housing, potential first-time buyers apply directly to Co-Ownership Housing©. Applicants must not be able to afford to purchase the property concerned without the scheme’s help and must be able to keep up the payments. It is possible to buy a share of 50% or more in a home worth up to £175,000 and then ‘staircase’ in to full ownership as circumstances allow.

Housing associations vary greatly in their size and scope of operation. Some are small community-based organisations operating in a particular locality. Others operate across Northern Ireland and in some cases throughout Ireland.  Overall, they provide over a third of Northern Ireland’s social housing.

The stock size of the individual associations varies greatly from the larger organisations managing over 5,000 properties to those with fewer than 100 homes.  Housing associations employ more than 3,200 people – many in care and support roles.  Paid staff are complemented by around 400 people serving voluntarily on housing association boards of management.

Collectively, housing associations in Northern Ireland provide over 53,000 good quality social and affordable homes for rent or equity sharing.  Housing, care and support provided includes:

• Mainstream family housing
• Co-ownership – shared ownership homes
• Sheltered housing and other accommodation for older people
• Supported accommodation people with specific needs e.g. learning disabilities, mental health issues, dementia
• Residential care homes
• Day care provision

Many also offer a variety of community services ranging from anti-social behaviour initiatives to supported employment programmes, youth clubs and IT classes.

The majority of housing association income is derived from rents and the ability to borrow against property holdings on the private market (eg through banks). Housing associations receive some funding from Government to help support the building of new homes, provide specialist housing or regenerating neighbourhoods.

Through the NI Housing Executive (NIHE) Government pays what’s known as a Housing Association Grant (HAG) currently approximately 50% of the estimated capital cost of the project to the housing association. The housing association then has to draw down the remaining capital from a private loan (eg a bank) or reinvestment of own funds. The grant does not have to be paid back, however, the private loan does. By operating this system the government, through housing associations is able to offer a larger volume of social housing to those in need.

As well as their major role in meeting housing and other social needs, Northern Ireland’s associations make a major contribution to the local economy. Housing associations match and multiply public investment through private borrowing to build new social homes. No investor has ever lost money lending to a UK housing association which is why this is widely considered to be the most successful public private partnership.  In addition construction’s multiplier effect on the economy cannot be underestimated.

A new study by the CBI and Oxford Economics called Fine Margins: delivering financial sustainability in UK construction suggests that every £1 spent on construction creates £2.92 of value to the UK economy.  The figure is an 8p increase on the £2.84 multiplier identified in a study by L.E.K. Consulting just over a decade ago.

NIFHA’s members are committed to delivering new social and affordable homes between 2018-21 in partnership with NIHE and DfC.  In 2016-17 registered housing associations completed work on 1,507 new social and affordable homes and started building work on 1,759 more. developed a record number of houses with 2,418 starts. This represents a capital investment of £289 million across Northern Ireland. Some 699 households were also able to take their first step on the housing ladder thanks to Co-ownership.

Many housing associations are registered charities and / or Industrial and Provident societies.  All invest any surpluses back in to pursuing their social purpose.  In Northern Ireland housing associations are regulated by the Department for Communities (DfC).

Housing associations work closely with DfC and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) to deliver housing and related services.  Many also provide care and support services for vulnerable people including older people with dementia and people with learning disabilities.  These services are provided in partnership with a wide range of statutory and charitable partners in the health and care fields.

The department is responsible for funding, monitoring, regulation and issue of guidance and policy directives to registered housing associations. It has a statutory duty to consult with representatives of housing associations. DfC liaises regularly with NIFHA on policy and legislation issues.

There is a deeply rooted, positive working relationship between the NIHE and all registered housing associations.

The NIHE supports associations’ work in a number of practical ways:

• their research helps identify the need for housing development to satisfy housing stress

• the Development Programme Group (DPG) manages the Social Housing Development Programme and administers the grant

• they manage the ‘Common Selection Scheme’ (waiting list), assessing the housing need of applicants, awarding points and allocating homes.

The term registered housing association refers to those housing associations operating under Department for Communities DfC regulation. Only they are eligible to receive Housing Association Grant (HAG).

The SHDP provides social housing in Northern Ireland. It is managed by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s (NIHE) Development Programme Group and provides grant funding to housing associations so that they can build or acquire new social housing. The SHDP is currently managed on a 3 year rolling basis.

You can search the Social Housing Development Programme and Unmet Need Prospectus on NIHE’s website for further information.

NIFHA counts amongst its membership both registered and non-registered housing associations. Click on housing association directory for a list of our members and links to information about them.

Click on ‘Finding a Home‘ to find out more.

An association may purchase your home / land but this would depend on many factors including funds available for the association to purchase, also if the association has a need for your particular type of house or your land in your particular area. Housing associations will look at estate agent listings when looking to purchase so the best advice is to make sure you have your property registered with your local estate agents.

All housing associations have complaints procedures which need to be followed. These can usually be found on the specific associations website or you can contact them directly to request these. In extreme circumstances where you have already followed ALL of the associations procedures and you are still not happy you can take your complaint to the ombudsman.

Please note the ombudsman will only deal with your complaint if you have exhausted all of the association’s complaints procedures.

Northern Ireland Ombudsman
33 Wellington Place
BELFAST
BT1 6HN

T: 028 9023 3821
or
The Ombudsman
Freepost
BELFAST
BT1 6BR

Freephone number:- 0800 34 34 24
E: ombudsman@ni-ombudsman.org.uk
W: www.ni-ombudsman.org.uk