To ask the Minister for Communities for his assessment of the reported 53 per cent increase in the cost of private rents in Belfast since 2020.

Mr Lyons

I am very aware of the significant rise in private rents over recent years in Belfast and across Northern Ireland. While Northern Ireland continues to be regarded as one of the more affordable regions of the UK, the rate at which rents have risen has outpaced wage growth by around 16%, meaning that many renters are now spending a greater share of their income on housing costs. To help address affordability challenges, in April last year, I introduced legislation to limit rent increases to once every 12 months, with a three-month notice period. Ultimately, the root cause of rising rents remains the imbalance between housing supply and demand. Increasing supply across all tenures is essential to improving long-term affordability. That is why we now have a 15-year Executive supply strategy for housing. Shortly, I will bring out the first detailed action plan to support its delivery. I remain focused on increasing the supply of affordable homes across Northern Ireland. That includes building substantially more social homes. That is why, last October, I set a grant rate that challenges housing associations to deliver more homes per pound of public funds. It is why I am introducing new homes at an affordable rent and why I continue to support Co-Ownership to help people to achieve affordable home ownership.

Mr Speaker

Minister.

Mr Lyons

Of course, any further work in this mandate on the sort of legislation that the Member might be talking about would not be feasible from a practical point of view. However, I do not think that those sorts of controls ultimately help to achieve what we think that they might achieve. In fact, nearly all the evidence that we have collated shows that they have a severely negative impact on rents. Ultimately, as I said in my original answer, this comes down to supply and demand. That means that we need to do everything that we can, and to stretch ourselves, so that we can build as many homes as possible. We are trying to do that in a number of ways. I have set those out already. I am committed to doing everything that we can to increase the supply of homes because, ultimately, that is the only way, in the long term, that we can actually deal with the level of rent.

Mr Carroll

A 53% increase in private rents is disgusting but not surprising. It is something that I, and many others, warned about years ago. The truth is, Minister, that you have allowed landlords to run riot and rip people off. When are you going to introduce rent reduction and rent caps? It should not fall on my shoulders to bring forward a private Member's Bill on the issue, but I am doing so because —

Mr Speaker

Minister.

Mr Carroll

— you have failed to act on this really important issue.

Mr Lyons

I understand that the Member is passionate about the issue, and he is bringing forward what he thinks is the solution. However, as I have said repeatedly, his solutions will make things worse —.

Mr Carroll

That is not true. Rents are going up.

Mr Lyons

It is true, because unless we deal with the issue of demand and the lack of supply, we will never be able to tackle the issue. In the past, I have provided, and I am happy to do so again, to the House the information, research and evidence that show that it simply will not work for people. Our focus needs to be on what has been proven time and time again to work, which is an increase in the supply of housing across all tenures in Northern Ireland. That is what I want to do.

Mrs Dillon

Minister, will you outline what, if any, plans you have to give further assistance to Women's Aid, particularly when it comes to refuge provision, given the fact that the cost of rent means that women in really dangerous positions are unable to leave their homes? Such a place should be their home, but it is the most dangerous place for them and their children right now.

Mr Lyons

Absolutely. The Member is right to raise that issue. Many factors affect those who leave their home as a result of domestic abuse. We need to make sure that we cover all bases and do what we can to provide assistance. The Housing Executive has been key in doing that work and has its strategy. I am happy to look again at some of the figures to see where there is particular demand, but, if the Member has particular concerns, I am more than happy to hear them, because we absolutely need to be receptive and responsive to that issue. I will certainly work with the Housing Executive to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to help those who are most in need. We often talk about the vulnerable in our society; few are more vulnerable than those whom she described. I have worked with Women's Aid in the past at both a constituency and Northern Ireland-wide level, and I am happy to do so again to make sure that we provide the support that is needed.

Ms Forsythe

Minister, the increasing cost of rents has a huge impact on family finances. I welcome the Minister's work on addressing that so far. What more can be done to ensure that we have more housing in Northern Ireland?

Mr Lyons

As I said, we need to make sure that we have more supply, so how do we manage that? Our housing supply strategy is now in place, and the action plans will follow from that. We need to make sure, however, that the funding is in place first of all so that we can build more social homes. I have done what I can by stretching the money that we have and asking housing associations to stretch themselves more so that we can deliver more homes. That is the right thing to do, and we will see the benefit of that, but we need to make sure that the Executive properly fund housing as well. The Programme for Government says that housing is a priority and sets a target, so the money needs to follow that. I understand that a very difficult Budget situation is ahead of us, and capital funding is no different from other money, but, when you make a pledge to build so many homes, you need to see the money follow that pledge so that we can do it. It does not just come down to funding for housing, however. We need to make sure that the right infrastructure is in place as well, including waste water infrastructure. We also need to make sure that the correct planning policies are in place, that our councils have local development plans and that we have properly zoned land in the right places so that we can build more homes. Some of that rests directly with Ministers — for instance, waste water rests with DFI — but there is a collective responsibility on the Executive. I am bringing proposals to the Executive, some of which are with them right now and others will come forward shortly. We all need to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to build more homes. There is also a responsibility on our councils to make sure that our local development plans are fit for purpose and allow us to build homes where they need to be built.