Gordon Lyons, Communities Minister, approved this initiative aiming to reduce reliance on costly short-term housing solutions and cut costs by almost £75 million over the next seven years.

Temporary accommodation is provided to those who are homeless and in priority need, but many are placed in hotels and B&Bs, referred to as “non-standard accommodation”. A report by the NI Audit Office stated that the NIHE spent over £12 million on hotels and B&Bs, compared with about £7.5 million from 2022 to 2023, and £0.9 million from 2018 to 2019.

In total, temporary accommodation cost the NHE approximately £39 million last year. The demand has surged in recent years, with up to 450 households using such accommodation on any given night.

Minister Lyons, of the Democratic Unionist Party, stressed the urgency of addressing the issue and believes that the plan will provide better-quality accommodation while granting more investment in preventing homelessness. “The status quo cannot continue, and we must act”, he stated. “It will allow the NIHE to invest in prevention activity – supporting families experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.”

“This will permit us to expand the use of cost effective, own front door temporary accommodation”, Grainia Long, NIHE chief executive, welcomed the move. “It will reduce costs, and allow more households to access higher quality accommodation better suited to their needs.”

The purchase of these home is part of the Housing Supply Strategy, which projects that 100,000 new homes are needed by 2039, with 33,000 required to be social housing, and the NIHE’s approach is expected to improve housing conditions while easing financial pressures on the system.