So far only Loftlines apartments are included in the scheme
A new scheme by the Housing Executive to promote city centre living in Belfast has attracted a 4,000 “interested” list, despite there only being only around 77 social housing units actually available so far in the project.
Representatives from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive this week briefed Belfast councillors at City Hall on moves to encourage living in the city core. At a special meeting of the council’s City Growth and Regeneration Committee, elected representatives heard an update on the NIHE City Centre Waiting List, a newly activated scheme to enhance and promote social housing in apartments in the city core.
So far this waiting list has only one development linked to it, the Loftlines in the Titanic Quarter, which will have 778 units. With 10 percent social housing proposed for this development, it means there will be around 77 available for the waiting list. That means with present figures there are 50 parties showing interest in every social housing unit. The social housing element of the Loftlines development will be the first to be allocated to tenants.
READ MORE: Translink told five lane plan for Durham Street beside Grand Central is “lunacy”
READ MORE: Where are we with the big “game-changing” development projects in Belfast?
A Housing Executive representative told the committee: “Our boundary differs a bit from the city centre council boundary, because basically we excluded the traditional social housing estates – Sandy Row, Carrick Hill, the Market. Because they were already existing housing areas with existing waiting lists, with a particular type of housing, it was felt we could keep those as they were, and create a boundary that would attract the growth in higher density apartment living, that would be in mixed use, mixed tenure schemes.
“It was felt that people could join this separate waiting list, as a separate choice to the other areas. We envisaged a shared waiting list, a mutual space for all, throughout the whole of the city centre.”
A Common Landlord Area (CLA) is a specific geographic region that may include housing from multiple social landlords, including the Housing Executive itself and other housing associations. When applying for social housing, individuals can select their preferred CLAs as areas of choice, and their application is then matched against vacancies within those chosen areas.
The NIHE agreed on their City Centre CLA in 2012, but it wasn’t created then as there was no development scheme to place tenants. After the Sirocco Waterside development was approved by the council in 2019, NIHE carried out a “latent demand test,” a mail drop to 15,000 households asking if they were interested in city centre apartment living.
By June 2020 they had 862 applicants on a “shadow waiting list.” Six years on, no work has been carried out on the Sirocco site. NIHE also showed interest in the Tribeca development, which had a social housing component, but work on this development, like Sirocco, has amounted to nothing.
The Housing Executive representative told councillors: “Now, finally, fast forwarding to 2025, Loftlines did eventually get approval, with 10 percent social housing, and it is nearing completion. It was agreed the City Centre Waiting List would commence when we were around six months from pre-allocation of the scheme, and this would allow people who are currently on the (other) waiting lists to register an interest in the scheme.”
Another NIHE rep told the committee: “We ran a report to capture all of those now on any Belfast waiting list, doing a mail merger exercise, and that went out to 22,000 people.” She said: “As of the end of last week, there were over 4,000 people who had put their name down for the city centre.”
Sinn Féin Councillor Ronan McLaughlin said at the committee meeting: “(4000) is a remarkable figure. And probably beyond the expectations of the Housing Executive, considering the previous latent demand figure was around 800. He added: “I personally think part of the problem with the city centre is the viability element – of actually getting city centre housing built.”
In April 2022 the Belfast Council Planning Committee approved the Loftlines, a new £117m ‘urban community’ apartment complex off Queen’s Road, Queen’s Island, Titanic. The 3.8 acre development, which has 778 new waterfront homes in three apartment blocks, was passed on a narrow vote at City Hall, without Alliance and Green Party support.
Three buildings of between 11 and 17 storeys are nearing completion. The new homes will include a range of housing types, including one, two or three-bed homes, and studio apartments, from a mix of build-to-rent, and social and affordable apartments. 10 percent of the apartments will be housing association managed homes, by Clanmil Homes.
The blocks will have private balconies, shared courtyards and shared roof terraces. Plans also involve a new riverfront promenade, a one acre park square and boulevard called ‘South Yard’, and green travel benefits for residents.
At the 2022 Planning meeting, Green Councillor Áine Groogan criticised the application on issues of public open space, potential overshadowing on the apartment block containing social housing, and flood risk.
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter
#Belfast #City #Centre #social #housing #waiting #list #shows #interested #parties
