Sinn Fein will not ‘put money where mouth is’ on housing, says Gordon Lyons

Sinn Fein is “unable to put their money where their mouth is” on social housing, the Communities Minister has said.

Gordon Lyons said ministers leading the departments of economy and finance need to “allocate the funding towards” building homes in order for him to meet targets.

Two months into the financial year, the Executive is still to agree a budget, with Finance Minister John O’Dowd previously outlining his intention to gain Executive agreement on a three-year budget.

The Executive had committed to commence the construction of 5,850 new social homes by the end of its mandate in 2027, equating to just under 2,000 a year.

During Assembly questions on Monday, Mr Lyons said his budget as outlined at the beginning of 2025/26 would only have facilitated the building of 1,100 social homes for the year.

The department has since secured a further £42 million, increasing the target to 1,765.

DUP MLA Pam Cameron said the finance allocation for communities in the draft budget “didn’t come even remotely close to delivering” housing agreed in the housing supply strategy and the programme for government.

Mr Lyons told MLAs: “We see this time and time again from Sinn Fein, they’re unable to put their money where their mouth is, and I hope that people in the Republic of Ireland are listening as well to what is happening here because they are in charge of the Department of Finance.

“They have the ability to bring forward proposals in terms of where money goes into each department and they have not been funding the social housing development programme adequately.

“To achieve 5,850 starts by May 2027 will be extremely challenging, and this will require sufficient budget being provided to my department and for it to be provided early in the financial year.”

He added: “If you care about housing, you have to allocate the funding towards it, and not just expect a minister to take that out of the overall budget.”

In response to a later question on social housing completions, Mr Lyons added: “I would have been able to achieve the overall target for this year had I been given the money that I was eventually given earlier on in the year.

“If we had have received that, it would have been a different outcome.”

Sinn Fein MLA Linda Dillon asked about housing available to people with special educational needs who wish to live independently, but added: “I think you have a neck on you talking about not being funded, you’re funded, it’s how you choose to prioritise your funding.”

Mr Lyons replied: “I have to say Sinn Fein have some neck to complain about me not being able to build as many social homes as I want when they are in charge of the Department of Finance, and could have made an allocation.

“If you don’t like what it is that I am spending money on, I’m saying well, ringfence the targets that are there within the programme for government to allow us to build those homes, but there’s a refusal to do that.

“The vast majority of my capital budget goes on social homes.

“This year we spent £210.7 million, the year before it was 176, the year before that was 161, so I do need more finance. I will do everything that I can to get that.”