Few would disagree that to solve our ongoing housing crisis we need to build more homes. It can’t though be just about building more homes. It is fundamentally about building and sustaining communities, as well as new homes. We need to build the right homes, in the right places, and ensure that these homes provide long-term security, a feeling of safety and bring greater affordability for those in need. Any new homes should become part of the fabric of communities for generations, sitting alongside schools, shops, parks and public transport.

Policy developments are now beginning to reflect this holistic and systemic perspective. The Housing Supply Strategy, agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive at the end of 2024, makes a policy commitment to put “place-shaping” at the heart of the strategy. This is why new Local Development Plans have become so relevant. The purpose of these is to set out a framework and a set of polices for land use and development over the next 15 years. Of the eleven councils, six have now adopted new policies on planning, with a further three having draft plans published for consideration. Two councils have yet to publish their intentions. Given that the development of the local development plans started in 2015 with the transfer of planning powers to the new councils, it has been a frustratingly slow process, but we are now beginning to see the results.

The published strategies include several policies on residential development. They set out how residential developments should work, introducing requirements on design, sustainability and the housing mix within any new development. Most significantly, the policies now require new residential developments over a certain size to provide affordable housing. Most commonly in the policies published to date, all residential developments above a certain size will require a proportion of affordable homes – around 20 per cent of the total units in the development.

This will fundamentally change the way residential developments are delivered here. Rather than mono tenure developments of private sales or social housing we should now see most large developments becoming mixed tenure - a mix of private sales, social housing, shared ownership homes, and in the future the new intermediate rent product too. This approach to development should bring individual and community benefits. Mixed tenure brings together people from different income levels and backgrounds within the same neighbourhood.  By their nature, these communities will accommodate social housing tenants, who will no longer be stigmatised because of the area they live in.

Co-Ownership and mixed tenure developments  

Those who want a shared ownership option will also benefit. Co-Ownership is the regional provider in Northern Ireland of shared ownership housing, and we are already seeing our customers benefit from this new approach. The biggest challenge our customers face is finding an affordable home in an area they wish to live. At least part of the problem is that there are not enough new homes being delivered by the market for the demand that exists. The new local development plans are now providing homes for our customers that would not otherwise be available. There are six new developments with homes now available only to Co-Ownership customers, crucially opening up opportunity for people who might otherwise be priced out of the new-build market.

In September last year, in a development delivered by Braidwater Homes and Apex Housing Association, the first Co-Ownership homeowners officially moved into their new build homes at Black Ridge Hill, a new mixed tenure housing development in West Belfast. The development includes a range of modern two and three-bedroom homes, all delivered to full turn-key specification.  

In Ballymena, the regeneration of the former St Patrick's Barracks has also delivered a mixed tenure development. Radius Housing have built homes for Co-Ownership customers with the first residents moving into their new build homes in recent months.

As positive as progress has been to date, this is new territory for all stakeholders involved, and there are challenges to navigate. There continues to be confusion about what affordable housing means. In practice the affordable products available are social housing, provided by housing associations, shared ownership homes provided through Co-Ownership, and intermediate rent homes provided by Choice Housing Associations subsidiary Maple and May. Ideally, new developments would have a healthy mix of all these tenure types.

Mixed tenure is a new way of working for private developers, housing associations and the various government agencies involved. There is still a need for greater clarity around the policies and the roles each organisation has in delivering them. However, there is a palpable shared desire to make this work, because when it does, it will create more affordable homes in strong and vibrant communities.

The current property market has its challenges. According to the latest house price statistics from Land and Property Services, homes here are 18% more expensive than 3 years ago. Over the same period new build prices have increased by 25%. First time buyers and Co-Ownership customer have been priced out of much of the market. This is driven primarily by increased constructions costs. Along with the challenges of wastewater capacity the most common challenge we hear from both private developers and housing associations is viability. We have a paradoxical situation that in some places developers cannot afford to build homes at a price that people can afford to pay. Solving this in places like Belfast city centre will require strategic and targeted government support.

Finding Co-Ownership solutions

To help address these challenges and others, Co-Ownership and the Chartered Institute of Housing recently facilitated a workshop with stakeholders from across the public, private and not-for-profits sectors. We will be publishing a report on this soon. With continued support from the Department for Communities, the Housing Executive and Councils, developers and wider industry partners, we believe we will see a future where housing is mixed. We are committed to being part of the solution. 

Shared Ownership is a success story for Northern Ireland. Co-Ownership has helped more than 34,000 households into home ownership since we were established in 1978. Of these 9,000 were over the past decade, with the value of these home purchases exceeding £1 billion. Set against rising homelessness, ever increasing social housing waiting lists, a private rented sector that is insecure and expensive, and a property market not supplying enough homes, we offer solutions for people who otherwise would have no good housing options.  

Mark Graham is the Chief Executive of Co-Ownership, bringing extensive experience of the housing sector to his role. He joined Co-Ownership in 2015 as Executive Director of Property and Development, before taking up his current position in 2016. Mark has previously held senior management positions with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations. Since joining Co-Ownership, he has focused on delivering excellent customer service, digitising the customer journey and introducing new housing products including Co-Own for Over 55s.