“Transforming housing supply will require not only a collective response from the Executive but real collaboration that includes local government, community groups, construction industry and financial bodies. It must also major on engaging with those people who are most in housing need. This approach is built on the principle that those who are most affected by poor housing are best placed to help design or redesign it.”
Former Minister for Communities, Deirdre Hargey MLA (SF)
A lack of decent, accessible housing is one of the most pressing challenges that Northern Ireland faces. There is not enough, it is often low quality, and communities struggle to access that which does exist.
Recent data shows that across Northern Ireland as a whole, there are more than 45,000 households on the social housing waiting list. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) recognises almost 60% (26,310 households) of those on the housing waiting list as ‘full duty applicants’ – meaning a person or household has passed all four tests for homelessness and has not yet been given a permanent social tenancy. In Belfast, as of March 2023 there were 8,118 homeless households in the city, up 18% on 2021 figures.
What is community-led housing?
A potent, yet unexplored, solution to this crisis is Community-led housing (CLH). Community-led housing is a broad, catch-all term used to refer to housing developments which:
are shaped through genuine, open, community participation and consent;
are for the true benefit of the whole community (both future residents and non-residents) over the long-term; and
are usually owned or managed by a community group.
Today, there are four main models of community-led housing in the UK and Ireland, and each focus on different aspects of housing delivery:
Co-housing - The provision of shared spaces;
Community land trusts - collective ownership by a neighbourhood group;
Cooperative housing - equitable forms of governance; and
Self-help housing - collective renovation.
Overall, despite its rarity in Northern Ireland, developing genuine CLH on the Mackie’s site offers real promise as a tool for addressing Belfast’s housing crisis in a way that brings communities together. Developing CLH provides communities with genuine, democratic input into the processes, environment and decisions that shape their lives. This can build close-knit communities, improve cohesion, and provide security and friendship - building social connections that are crucial for collective and individual wellbeing. Indeed, research suggests that by bringing a ‘combination of democratic decision-making, a non-profit legal structure and social relations committed to mutual aid’, CLH can provide a ‘safe space’ for communities that face socio-economic or political injustices.
What distinguishes CLH from community-focused housing projects – such as those delivered by social housing providers or ethical developers - is that they are led, owned, and/or managed by a body that defines itself as a ‘community’.
Overall, the main motivation for CLH groups is to provide high quality homes, rather than the pursuit of profits. CLH is often aimed at providing homes for those who are priced out of accessing secure housing for sale or rent. What distinguishes CLH from community-focused housing projects – such as those delivered by social housing providers or ethical developers - is that they are led, owned, and/or managed by a body that defines itself as a ‘community’.
Though more comprehensive legislation supporting community-led development and service delivery would be valuable, local and national government in Northern Ireland does have powerful tools to support CLH. Community Planning Partnerships provide a route for communities to formally express their visions for their areas, the legal structures for CLH groups are well established, and community asset transfer legislation gives councils the power to transfer land and buildings to communities at the right price – a vital first step towards sustainably delivering CLH. The general power of competence, meanwhile, invests councils with the power to provide the organisations and finance for communities to turn this land or buildings into homes.
What is needed now from central and local government in Northern Ireland is the confidence to embrace CLH on sites like the Mackie’s as part of their strategy for combatting the housing crisis. Communities cannot end it on their own, and neither can the government or private sector.
Read and download the full report ‘Community Led Housing in Northern Ireland: Take back the city’
To make your voice heard on rezoning the Mackie's site, click here.