To ask the Minister for Communities (i) for her assessment of the current demand and supply of housing; and (ii) to detail the initiatives she is considering in order to ease the current housing pressure and increase the number of available properties.

(I) I am acutely aware of the demands on our housing system. That is why we have commenced the most ambitious and radical shake up of housing

In relation to assessing housing need, the Housing Executive has recently completed the first phase of research to develop a suite of Strategic Housing Market Analyses (SHMAs). These analyses, which follow best practice in Scotland and Wales, will replace the existing Net Stock Model approach and, along with the Department for Infrastructure’s Housing Growth Indicators, will provide an evidence base for the Local Development Plans (LDPs) that are being developed by each of the District Councils. The evidence will be used within LDPs to determine housing policy and the allocation of housing land for different tenures within a council area for the next 15 years.

The research is due to be completed in mid-2022, with further outputs comprising the Strategic Housing Market Analyses for all the remaining housing market areas, along with a separate report providing projected annualised new dwelling requirements by tenure, until 2035.

(ii) I have taken immediate steps to increase the supply of social and intermediate affordable housing. These include:

Securing a budget of £162m for the Social Housing Development Programme in 2021/22 (£26m more than in 20/21) and

affordable shared ownership homes over the period 20/21 to 23/24, including £13m secured to assist those impacted by lenders withdrawing high Loan to Value (LTV) mortgage products from the market during the pandemic.