Consultation Description

Having considered the relevant issues relating to affordable housing, the Department has reached the following preliminary conclusions:

• An overarching non-product based definition of affordable housing will provide a framework for increasing housing supply while being flexible enough to accommodate
changing needs and demands;

• Affordable housing, particularly where there is public funding to support either the development of or access to this option, needs to be viewed as outside the mainstream market;

• Affordable housing funded by Government should remain affordable or there should be provision for public funding to be repaid or recycled to provide further affordable
homes; and

• There is clear potential to broaden the focus for intermediate housing to include groups such as, active older people, those with disabilities and those on low incomes but who do not have sufficient points for social rented housing.

2.3 These conclusions have informed the Department’s decision to propose an updated overarching definition for affordable housing, as follows:

"Affordable housing is housing provided for sale or rent outside of the general market, for those whose needs are not met by the market. Affordable housing which is funded by Government must remain affordable or, alternatively, there must be provision for the public subsidy to be repaid or recycled in the provision of new affordable housing."

The Northern Ireland Department for Communities is seeking views on its proposals to change the Definition of Affordable Housing. The current definition of affordable housing was drafted to reflect the affordable housing products available at the time of its development, namely social housing and shared ownership housing. The Department considers that it is now timely to provide a revised definition of affordable housing which incorporates a wider range of intermediate housing products.

This consultation is now closed. The responses to this consultation are currently being reviewed by the Northern Irish Government. Details of the outcome will be published in due course.