Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland has announced that 47 homes at the former St Patrick's Barracks in Ballymena are to be refurbished as part of a £3.8million social and affordable housing scheme.

The 47 Ministry of Defence (MOD) married quarters will be refurbished by Fold Housing Association and will be ready for new residents to move into in late 2013.

Visiting the site to mark the transfer to Fold Housing Association, Minister McCausland said: "This is another example of empty homes in an area of high housing need being acquired to provide social and affordable housing.

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"Innovative thinking in the funding of new social housing and making public funding work harder to increase supply feature heavily in my new Housing Strategy.

"The fact that we are here today on the site of a former Ministry of Defence facility is proof that we are doing just that. This housing, a legacy of our troubled past, will be refurbished and converted to provide much needed social and affordable housing for Ballymena.

"Fold Housing is to be congratulated for taking up the challenge to purchase and refurbish these properties in an area that continues to have a high housing need."

(CD/GK)