Housing

Overview

The supply of affordable and energy-efficient housing is essential to developing and maintaining healthy and happy communities. This is a shared priority across the British-Irish Council’s eight member administrations.

To that end, the Housing Work Sector collaborates to share policy and practice in areas such as the design and supply of housing across a range of tenures, including social housing.

Lead Administration

The Housing Work Sector was established in 2009 and is chaired by the Northern Ireland Executive.

Current Focus

The Housing Work Sector’s work programme was agreed at a joint Ministerial meeting alongside the Planning and Places Work Sector in February 2021, which was hosted by the Northern Ireland Executive.

The current focus is on:

• Design issues
• Accessing suitable and affordable housing
• The role of housing in Health and Social Care
• Facilitating collaboration across the BIC’s other areas of activity

In November 2023, the Scottish Government hosted a meeting in Inverness which visited two rural housing development sites and looked at approaches to supporting the provision of affordable and sustainable housing in rural communities.

In April 2024, the work sector travelled to Guernsey to study an affordable housing development site, and to share information on the private rental markets across the eight administrations.

A Housing Ministerial meeting is currently scheduled for September 2024.