To ask the Minister for Social Development to detail how his Department is working with the Housing Executive on initiatives to bring empty homes back into use (i) across Northern Ireland; and (ii) in East Londonderry.

Departmental officials meet regularly with Housing Executive and Housing Association officials to investigate all available options for bringing empty homes back into use across Northern Ireland.

The Department has encouraged the Housing Executive to consider initiatives being used in other jurisdictions and supported them to introduce where appropriate. The Housing Executive’s Empty Homes Unit and website was developed and established a mechanism for reporting empty homes. This has been operating since April 2014, allowing members of the public to report an empty home so that the Housing Executive can take follow up action.

The Housing Executive has also developed a “Matching Service” similar to the “The Matchmaker Scheme” in England which will aim to match owners of empty homes with people who wish to buy a home. Testing of the IT system is ongoing and it is anticipated that the scheme will launch in September.

The Housing Executive has also developed proposals for a “repair and lease scheme” and an “ex Housing Executive property pilot scheme”. These were considered by the Department and Departmental economists respectively and were found not to represent value for money. As such, they were not progressed.

The Department and the Housing Executive will continue to consider initiatives being used in other jurisdictions.