NI housing wait twice as long for Catholics than Protestants

Catholics in the North wait almost twice as long as Protestants for housing according to government statistics.

Out of 35,750 people on the housing list by the end of June 2020, 36.4% identified as Catholic while 38.2% identified as Protestant.

The figures, discovered by the Belfast Telegraph after a Freedom of Information request, found that although more people on the housing list identified as Protestant, on average Protestants wait nine months to be housed compared to 16 months for Catholics.

The constituency with the highest number of people on the waiting list was North Belfast where 4,354 people were waiting to be housed. This is 12.18% of the overall waiting list and more than the number of people on the waiting list in Mid Ulster, South Down and West Tyrone combined.

In north Belfast Catholics can expect to wait 20 months to be housed while Protestants will spend a median of eight months on the list.

The figures come weeks after plans were submitted for 18 homes on the Crumlin Road which were opposed by the former DUP MP for the area Nigel Dodds.

The overall median average for the North is 11 months. In 10 parliamentary constituencies Catholics waited longer to be housed while Protestants waited longer than the average time in two constituencies.