Housing Executive refute claim they failed homeless during Storm Bert

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive have refuted claims that they failed in their legal duty to the homeless during Storm Bert.

Independent Councillor Paul McCusker, who represents the Oldpark DEA on Belfast City Council and works with the People's Kitchen charity claimed that the Housing Executive "have a legal duty" to provide shelter to the homeless and that a "huge amount" of those presenting for support have had no other option but to sleep rough this weekend.

The Housing Executive accepted that while "immense pressure" was placed on their services over the weekend, over 4,500 households availed of temporary accommodation.

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In a statement, Cllr McCusker said: "Severe weather this week, freezing temperatures, floods, storms and those at risk of rough sleeping being refused help this weekend. Disgrace!

"We cannot highlight enough the seriousness of the situation on the streets of Belfast, a system by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive that is not fit for purpose for the most vulnerable men and women on our streets.

"We need to see an urgent response to this to ensure everyone has access to the support they deserve, we also need to prevent more deaths on our streets. The provision of extra beds and support should not only happen when there is bad weather, it should be every night of the year.

"Northern Ireland Housing Executive this is your responsibility and rough sleeping can be addressed, we cannot wait until the temperature drops, this may be to late for many of those who are homeless on our streets in Belfast, this is an emergency."

The Housing Executive introduced a Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) in December 2021 to ensure the availability of accommodation to all those rough sleeping and who could be at risk due to severe weather conditions, for example when temperatures fall near or below freezing.

The most prominent reason as to why a SWEP is called is due to severe cold weather including snow and ice, with temperatures below zero.

While there is no legal requirement for the Housing Executive to provide shelter to everyone, The Housing Executive have a statutory duty to seek temporary accomodation for anyone presenting as homeless and work with partner organisations to do this including the Welcome Organization, First Housing Aid & Support Services (FHASS) and DePaul to ensure appropriate arrangements are in place, including extending the opening of day centres and expanding the numbers of temporary bed spaces.

Responding to the accusations raised by Cllr McCusker, A Housing Executive spokesperson said: “We do not accept that we failed any legal duty to homeless presenters this week.

“Yesterday [Saturday] we faced unprecedented and record breaking levels of people presenting to us seeking emergency temporary accommodation.

“This was a result of the flood conditions being experienced across Northern Ireland.

“Immense pressure was placed on the limited availability of temporary accommodation as a result of this week’s extreme weather conditions.

“As a response, across Northern Ireland our teams were active, on the ground, at a number of locations ensuring people were kept safe and as a consequence, understandably, our resources were extremely stretched.

“Over the weekend, over 4,500 households availed of temporary accommodation and 11,000 households have benefited from this support over the last year.

“We always strive to ensure that everyone presenting to us is cared for and yesterday additional crash bed facilities were made available to help those in need.

“As stated, the situation faced by our teams on Saturday night was unprecedented and we will continue to assist the most vulnerable in our community as we have done consistently.”

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