HC Deb 07 December 1978 vol 959 cc1597-9
2. Mr. Townsend

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what new plans are being put forward to encourage home ownership in Northern Ireland.

The Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Ray Carter)

A number of measures have already been taken to encourage home ownership in Northern Ireland. Other measures at present under active consideration include the sale of Housing Executive dwellings to sitting tenants in areas where housing need has been met, and the need for official action to secure the provision of sites for private house building. Moreover, when a current study of the factors governing the level of house prices in Northern Ireland is complete, I intend considering what further measures, if any, might be taken.

Mr. Townsend

But is the Minister aware that the shortage of home loans in the Province has almost reached crisis proportions? Further, does he appreciate that, by restricting lending to what are virtually substandard dwellings, the Housing Executive has placed a large part of the housing market out of the reach of the buyer?

Mr. Carter

I am sorry, but the hon. Gentleman clearly does not know enough about private home ownership in Northern Ireland. The truth is that we probably have the best arrangement with the building societies of any region in the United Kingdom, and the Executive certainly places no undue limit currently on the question of loans to those who wish to buy their own property.

Mr. Bradford

I appreciate the contribution which the Housing Executive's home loans scheme makes to the possibility of house purchase in the Province, but will the Minister accept that the home loans department of the Executive takes an inordinately long time to process applications, thereby occasioning payments on bridging loans by the applicants?

Mr. Carter

I am not aware of that, but if the hon. Gentleman has examples that he can forward to me I shall take the matter up. The Housing Executive is bearing a rather unfair share of the burden of providing loans to people who wish to buy their homes in Northern Ireland. Undoubtedly, its organisation is overstrained, but by and large I think that it copes.

Mr. Watkinson

Will my hon. Friend accept the congratulations of the House on the initiative which his Department has shown in bringing forward the home purchase scheme? Does not part of the problem of housing in Northern Ireland relate to the outdated and outmoded practices in the private rented sector, and can my hon. Friend indicate what is the prospective house building outturn for the coming year?

Mr. Carter

In both private and public sectors we shall not achieve quite what we wanted to achieve this year, for a variety of reasons. However, in the private sector we have probably the most imaginative and wide-ranging programme to stimulate private sector acquisition of any region of the United Kingdom. Some hon. Members—the hon. Member for Bexleyheath (Mr. Townsend) in particular—ought to be made aware of that, and I shall write to the hon. Member giving full details of the measures we are taking in Northern Ireland.