The Housing Executive has invested almost £100 million in homes across Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council.

During a meeting with councillors from Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, Housing Executive Chief Executive, Grainia Long, presented the annual Housing Investment Plan. The Plan details the Housing Executive's performance during the previous year and outlines the plans for the year ahead.

Last year across the Lisburn and Castlereagh district, 568 people who presented as homeless were accepted for support from the Housing Executive.

During the 2022/2023 period, the Housing Executive spent £218 million on improving and maintaining homes across Northern Ireland.

Local communities received support from the Housing Executive with more than £59,000 of funding provided through its community grants, community safety and community cohesion programmes. Building cohesive, thriving and supportive communities across the district remained a key area of focus in the investment plan for 2022/23.

In the Lisburn and Castlereagh district last year, £59.80 million was invested in new-build homes, with 330 housing association units on-site at March 2023, and 97 housing completions for the year. However, Housing Executive Chief Executive, Grainia Long said: "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."

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Last year, the Housing Executive invested £1.30m specifically on energy efficiency improvement measures across its 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 homes across Northern Ireland, including Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council.

Grainia Long stated: "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 Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, the Housing Executive spend last year was just under £100m. We invested £2.60m on planned maintenance including stock improvements, with a further £3.46m spent on response maintenance.

"We worked hard to support the most vulnerable in our communities with £5.08m invested through the Supporting People programme to fund 72 services provided by partner organisations across the district. This investment provided housing support to 1,456 people last year."

Looking to the future, Grainia Long, said: "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.

"Delivery of our housing objectives is key to the social, economic and environmental benefits of Lisburn and Castlereagh City area. I am grateful for the partnerships we have built with the local council and look forward to working together further as we deliver against our shared goal of providing better places to live for the people and communities we serve."