Homes in Newry among 25,000 households invited to join people-led housing initative | Newry News
Homes in Newry are among 25,000 addresses across Northern Ireland to receive a letter inviting residents to join a new people-led drive to address the crippling housing crisis.
The random postcode lottery seeks to recruit 100 representatives to join the Citizen’s Forum on Housing across all six counties to help come up with a series of recommendations on key housing issues to be presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the UK and Irish governments.
The move comes as 86,000 people in Northern Ireland are currently on waiting lists for social housing, while homelessness figures have increased by 122 per cent in a decade, and over 4,500 children are living in temporary accommodation, according to the latest figures from the Department for Communities.
The housing forum is the brainchild of the Civic Initiative, a new participatory democracy organisation composed of a wide cross-section of civic society groups, academics and community workers.
The initiative was set up last year during the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement because of the abject failure of the Stormont administration to create a Citizens’ Assembly, one of its key commitments under New Decade, New Approach.
Emma DeSouza, Civic Initiative Founder and Co-Facilitator says the Citizens’ Forum on Housing follows nine months of intensive community workshops throughout the region which identified housing as a key area desperately in need of new thinking, and new policies.
She explains, “The Northern Ireland Assembly has long failed to provide a vehicle for public participation, whether it was the commitment for a Civic Forum under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement or the latter proposals for a Citizens’ Assembly.
“This is an example of civic society once again having to step up to provide leadership lacking in our politicians.
“We are taking action to bring society’s voices to the table and to place the issue of housing at the top of the agenda.
“The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement includes the right to decent, safe housing.
“The Citizens’ Forum on Housing will examine these key issues, and more broadly barriers to access and affordability.”
Les Allamby, Independent chair of the Civic Initiative Oversight Committee says, “The Citizens’ Forum on Housing seeks to amplify the importance of civic voice in identifying issues and playing an important role in creating meaningful solutions.”
He adds, “Any household may receive an invitation to participate in this historic forum, if your household receives an invitation all residents aged 16+ may register their interest in participating.”
Members of the Citizens’ Forum on Housing will be recruited by the UK-based NGO Sortition Foundation.
The letters of invitation are being sent via a postal lottery starting the week of 9 September.
100 people will then be selected at random to be representative of Northern Irish society.
The Citizens’ Forum will meet during November 2024 and a report will be produced in early 2025.
The Civic Initiative is funded by the International Fund for Ireland’s (IFI) Communities in Partnership Programme (CiPP), which aims to build genuine connections on a cross-border basis and provide meaningful benefits to communities involved.
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Posted by NewryTimes News
on Sep 27 2024. Filed under Community.
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