The Minister for Social Development, Alex Attwood, unveiled plans for 200 homes on the site beside the Crumlin Road gaol in north Belfast.
The £20m investment will be one of the biggest new social and affordable housing developments in Northern Ireland in recent years.
It will also provide the best opportunity in a generation to make real progress in meeting housing need across north Belfast.
Attwood commented: "This will be a tremendous housing boost for the people of North Belfast. My predecessor has already announced a £38m investment to transform the quality of homes in north Belfast.
"I am now adding quantity to that quality with 200 new social and affordable homes at the former military base at Girdwood. Windows and washing lines replacing watchtowers and sangers offers a much brighter future for everyone in the area.," he quipped.
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"We appointed Apex Procurement Group some months ago to start the ball rolling. They have produced high quality designs with a proposed layout for the new homes. The time is now right to share those plans and consult with the local community."
The Minister also announced regeneration plans for the lower Shankill and lower Oldpark and the commencement of a £4m scheme to build 40 new homes in Somervale, also north Belfast.
A housing association has been appointed to deliver new housing in the Lower Shankill, which includes a mix of social and affordable housing.
In total over 100 new units have been identified in the Lower Shankill that will also include environmental improvements, the creation of more attractive open space and improved road and pedestrian access that alongside the new housing has the potential to breathe new life back into the neighbourhood.
In the Lower Oldpark, a site to build 50 new social and affordable homes has been identified.
A survey of forty vacant NI Housing Executive properties has also been completed and there are already plans to bring 17 of those properties back into use.
(JG)
