Housing.

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It is our belief that access to a good quality, secure and affordable home is a fundamental right. It is critical if our communities are to flourish.

We believe that government has a responsibility to tackle and end homelessness. The SDLP believes that at least 3,000 new social homes are needed each year to meet demand and an initial step must be to place a duty of co-operation on Government departments. SDLP Youth fully supports the aims of the SDLP to build homes and to end homelessness and hope to do so through bringing our own ideas from our membership on housing to the table in SDLP policy formulation.

Affordable housing schemes should also be expanded to give more first-time buyers the chance to own their own home. SDLP Youth will work with the SDLP to see the creation of more shared housing schemes, more mixed developments to include social, affordable and private homes and reform of common selection and regulation of the private rented sector.

Our Housing Policies.

SDLP Youth is campaigning for:

  • appropriate rent controls to be emplaced to ensure renters in the private sector are not able to take advantage of tenants. This should be proportional to average wages, property value, cost of living, making sure that citizens out of housing and retain access to the right to have a home, similar to the Berlin model.

  • full support and implementation of the help-to-buy scheme, but not as a substitute for social housing.

  • implementation of mandatory mortgage deposits, as is the case in the Republic, in the form of Special Savings Incentive Accounts (SSIA).

  • an increase in the construction of social housing, with a new review panel to ensure housing is allocated based on need, as used in the Australian social housing model, with a specialisation of social housing.

  • the landlord registration scheme to be strengthened, to ensure the better protection of the rights of tenants. 

  • all future housing and urban developments should be accessible to all our citizens, in particular with regards to the elderly and people with disabilities.

  • the implementation of the Land Law Reform Bill and the Ground Rents (Amendment) Bill, as proposed by the Northern Ireland Law Commission’s 2010 report on land law reform (NILC 8 (2010).

  • a change in the law to apply the Norgan approach to mortgage repayments in Northern Ireland instead of the Lynd approach, to make the law on mortgages easier on mortgagors.

  • the public ownership of social housing which is distributed solely on the basis of need.

  • the establishment of a centre for retrofit excellence to develop and oversee a comprehensive programme for the insulation and improvement of housing in Northern Ireland to ensure a major reduction in problems caused by fuel poverty.

Our Co-Operative Housing Policies.

SDLP Youth is campaigning for:

  • the promotion of student housing co-operatives, move motions for relevant students unions and NUS-USI to affiliate to/join SCH, host online sessions through the party to discuss and promote the idea of a student housing co-operative in NI.

  • NUS-USI, Ulster SU and QUB SU to maintain a focus on establishing an NI Student Housing Co-operative in the immediate term through into the long term.

  • like minded parties and bodies to help establish and grow an NI student housing co-operative and promote vacancies as and when they arrive in the organisation once established.

  • representatives in relevant areas from local government through to Westminster to support establishing of an NI Student Housing Co-operative and identify partner organisations that might help establish and grow the capacity of an NI student housing co-operative.