Motion no: 9
Conference notes that a large number of Northern Ireland Housing Executive tenants received letters in mid-February telling them that it is proposed to sell their homes to housing associations.
Conference believes that the interests of tenants and of the working-class people of the North generally are best served by retaining NIHE stock within the public sector. Conference is concerned that the proposed sales to housing associations could lead on towards full-blown privatisation of our public (“social”) housing.
The creation of the NI Housing Executive in 1971 represented a major achievement for the civil rights movement and for the trades union movement in the North. Trades union, individually and through trades councils, had been calling for many years for a rapid expansion of public-sector housing and the removal of control of housing allocation from local councils and for the introduction of a housing points system. The achievement of these goals should be a source of pride to all who worked to bring it about. This achievement should not be set aside easily.
Conference calls on the Department of Social Development to call a halt to the sell-off of HIHE houses, and calls on the incoming Executive to introduce legislation to empower a reformed Housing Executive to borrow on the market to fund a crash building programme of much-needed social housing.
Conference calls on the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister to end the role of the unaccountable Strategic Investment Board in relation to the Housing Executive and to return control to a updated and accountable Housing Executive board.
Conference declares its solidarity with trades unionists in the Housing Executive in their efforts to protect jobs and fend off privatisation. Conference reaffirms its opposition to the privatisation of public assets and reaffirms the determination of the trades union movement to defend the public sector.
