NI Housing
Executive: Issues and
Recommendations
Most
of the community did not have any
experience of the NIHE as the vast
majority of the community live in private
sector housing. However, those who had
lived in public housing had a number of
bad experiences:
Criteria and
Prioritisation in applications for public
housing
- Some
members of the Bangladeshi
community applying for public
housing were told that they
needed to have been resident in
NI for five or seven years to
qualify. Others were told that
they had to be a British Citizen
for five years. This prevented
applications. NIHE have
now discontinued the residency
requirement.
- Another
case brought to the attention of
the Multi-Cultural Resource
Centre involved an unwritten
policy of the executive to
prioritise people for housing in
a particular area if they had
family in the same area. This
clearly has an adverse impact on
ethnic minorities who are less
likely to have family in the
area The case was resolved.
We
understand the discontinued seven year
residency policy was aimed at resolving
problems relating to benefit fraud in
areas close to the border, as housing was
allocated to people living south of the
border who did not intend to reside
there. These are clear examples of
policies which have been drawn up with
particular issues relating to the
majority community in mind, without
taking into account the impact this will
have on minority ethnic and other
equality constituencies. This
demonstrates the need to mainstream
minority ethnic and equality issues into
the policy making process.
Racist Intimidation
/ Harassment
- Many
of those in public housing
experienced racism. People felt
that the NIHE was not
sensitive to the issue. People
felt that the housing executive
was more keyed in to sectarian
harassment in the majority
communities and would not house
someone of the opposite religion
in an area with a history of
sectarian intimidation.
Similar regard was not paid to
racist intimidation. People felt
that they were not directed to
any other source of help.
People felt racism existed but
was not reported, as people felt
too afraid to report it. Whilst
the limited availability of
public housing stock was
appreciated it was felt that the
NIHE could improve its response
to minority ethnic applicants.
- Training
in awareness of and the handling
of racist incidents is needed.
- Information
accessible to the community about
the complaints procedure and
measures to ensure the procedure
is effective in dealing with
complaints from minority ethnic
communities are needed.
Communication
- Direct
communication with clients and
information on housing and rights
should be disseminated in an
manner that ensures effective
communication (see page 17). NIHE
has made a lot of progress here
having translated materials and
telephone interpreting services
available. There is a need for
further staff training to ensure
all NIHE staff and contractors
are aware of such services.
A particular area of concern was
the first point of contact,
particularly telephone and other
receptionists. Often impatience
and occasionally rudeness was
shown to those whose first
language was not English.
- Training
in handling service users whose
first language is not English,
and in the contact and use of
interpreters is needed.
REFER ALSO TO CASE
STUDY ON PAGE 16
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