Features
As the housing crisis rages across this island Stewart Smyth assesses the need for a state construction company and welcomes the announcement of new NIHE homes being built in the North. However, major battles on housing lie ahead. Irish Housing Minister, Darragh O’Brien, is the consummate bourgeois politician. While
Features
Recent headlines have celebrated Stormont’s plan to shake up housing. Housing expert Stewart Smyth analyses the announcement and argues that worryingly, privatisation looms large. There was a lot of fanfare recently when Minister for Communities, Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin), announced what she called the “most radical shake-up
Features
Housing expert Stewart Smyth argues that the current NI Housing Bill represents a re-privatisation of housing associations, with less control and regulation but the same amount of public money. Devolution was supposed to allow local decision-making to fit local circumstances. Housing is one of those devolved responsibilities that