HE put 311 homeless households in temporary flats or hostels

Housing Minister Nelson McCausland said 136 households in the Waterloo NIHE district; 57 in the Waterside; and 118 in the Collon Terrace district had resorted to temporary hostels or private rented accommodation in the city.

He explained how legislation requires the NIHE to ensure that “temporary accommodation (such as Housing Executive Hostels or Voluntary Hostels or accommodation in the Private Rented sector) is made available to applicants who are deemed to be homeless.”

He stated: “The Housing Executive has advised that at 14 January 2013 they had placed 311 households in temporary accommodation in response to their homelessness duties across their Londonderry District office areas.”

Finance Minister Sammy Wilson recently revealed there were almost as many vacant homes in Londonderry at the start of 2013 as there were people presenting as homeless in the city.

Mr Wilson revealed 1,246 domestic properties were recorded as vacant in Londonderry at December 31.

In November the Sentinel reported that the amount of people presenting as homeless in Londonderry increased from 1,013 to 1,655 between 2001 and 2011 - an increase of 63 per cent.

In the years following the signing of the Belfast Agreement the number of people homeless or in housing stress in Londonderry has increased steadily.