North and West Belfast: Acute Social Housing Need by Religious Belief/Community Background
The numbers of households in housing stress or with homeless status are concentrated in Catholic community.At the end of year 2019, there were 3,829 households on the housing waiting list in West Belfast – 83% of them in the predominately Catholic areas of Inner, Middle and Outer West Belfast, according to NIHE statistics obtained by Freedom of Information request.
87% of the 3,062 West Belfast households in housing stress were also in these predominately Catholic areas, as were 89% of the 2,515 households with Full Duty Applicant (FDA) status:
A closer look will show the proportion of West Belfast households in housing stress that reside in predominately Catholic areas:
The figures for North Belfast tell an even starker story.
While the 2011 census figures indicate that a majority of the population in the West Belfast Assembly Area were from a Catholic community background (80%), North Belfast has roughly an equal number of the two main communities (49% Protestant, 47% Catholic).
However, at end of year 2019 there were 2,586 households on the waiting list in North Belfast – three quarters of them in the predominately Catholic North Belfast 1 Housing Need Assessment (HNA) area. With regard to housing stress, 79% of North Belfast households experiencing it live in the North Belfast 1 HNA area, as do 82% of FDA homeless households.
For a closer look at housing stress in North Belfast, see the graph below.