The Housing Executive is to invest £218 million on improving and maintaining homes across Northern Ireland during 2022/23.

At a meeting with councillors from Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, Housing Executive Chief Executive, Grainia Long presented the annual Housing Investment Plan (HIP).

The HIP details the Housing Executive’s performance during the previous year and outlines programmes and plans for the year ahead.

Housing Executive Chief Executive, Grainia Long reported: "We have invested more in our tenants’ homes across Northern Ireland over the past 12 months (2022/23) than in any of the previous 15 years.

"This investment has been delivered in a challenging, external environment, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to improving the health and well-being of our tenants.

"In Newry, Mourne and Down, we invested £11.42m in planned maintenance including stock improvements last year, with a further £5.50m spent on response maintenance.

"We worked hard to support the most vulnerable in our communities with £6.36m invested through the Supporting People programme to fund 72 services provided by partner organisations across the district. This investment provided housing support to 1,438 people last year.

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"Across the district, 751 people who presented as homeless were accepted for support last year. Our focus on prevention and early intervention will continue with the aim of providing a sustainable model of provision to prevent homelessness."

Building cohesive, thriving and supportive communities across the district remained a key area of focus in the investment plan for 2022/23.

Ms Long continued: "We were able to support local communities with more than £59k funding through our community grants, community safety and community cohesion programmes. We recognise the importance of inclusion and good relations in helping people sustain their tenancies and build strong communities.

"We know this is more important than ever when we continue to face challenges in the housing sector with ongoing demand for social housing and homelessness services.

"Last year, £37.61m was invested in new-build homes in the district, with 631 housing association units on-site at March 2023, and 51 housing completions for the year.

"Despite this investment, the gap between housing demand and supply continues to widen and we recognise the importance of continued partnership with councils and the housing sector to find solutions.

"Last year, we invested £800,000 specifically on energy efficiency improvement measures across our own homes with plans to sustain this investment during 2023/24. This investment includes the delivery of one of the largest retrofit programmes across the UK, which will see vast improvements in the energy performance of over 1,000 of our homes across Northern Ireland, including Newry, Mourne and Down.

"In addition to investing in homes and communities in 2022/23, we are also pleased to have been able to support the economic future of Newry, Mourne and Down with a steady, positive impact on employment and local supply chains.

"Looking ahead to next year there is no doubt that we will continue to face challenges however we remain fully committed to the objectives set out in our Housing Investment Plan 2023 -26.

"We will continue to work with our partners to increase social housing supply, help to address the impact of climate change, invest in our local economy, deliver innovative housing solutions and involve our customers to ensure they are at the heart of service improvements in our business delivery model."