The numbers of people waiting for a home, in housing stress and officially recognised as homeless have risen steadily over the last six months.

For NI as a whole, Housing Executive figures from end September 2024 include:

• 48,366 NI households on the social housing waiting list (up 2.2% from 47,312 in March 2024)
• 36,741 NI households in housing stress (up 3.6% from 35,464 in March 2024)
• In terms of homelessness, the number of households with Full Duty Applicant status had risen to 30,658 households by end September 2024 (up 4.3% from 29,394 in March 2024)
• The earlier total of 18,959 kids growing up in NI’s FDA households, from March 2024, had risen to 19,700 kids under 18 in FDA households across the north at end September 2024 – an unprecedented high.

Similarly, Housing Executive statistics for Belfast from end September 2024 show the following:

• The Belfast waiting list rose 2.6% in six months, from 12,726 at end March 2024 to 13,060 households waiting for a social home at end September 2024
• The number of those households in housing stress (with 30+ points) rose 4%, from 10,307 to 10,712 households
• In terms of households with FDA status (that is, officially recognised as homeless), the figure rose 5% in six months – from 9,000 Belfast households at end March to 9,453 at end September.
• Over the same time period, the number of children under 18 growing up in families officially recognised as homeless rose from 5,400 to 5,780 at end September 2024. Over 42% of these homeless kids (2,452 children in total) lived in West Belfast.