It comes after the announcement today (30 June) of an additional £9 million being allocated in the June monitoring round with the aim of building more new social homes across Northern Ireland.

Ms Armstrong has said: “Everyone in our society deserves a safe, stable, and affordable place to live, and far too many have been left languishing on social housing waiting lists for far too long.

“The original budget provided enough to fulfil half of the housing supply strategy targets in 2025/2026. With this additional money we have a chance to catch up and deliver the full 2000 homes needed.

“Whilst the allocation of this funding is welcome progress, actually delivering the new homes that are needed is still dependent, however, on overcoming a number of barriers that have yet to be properly addressed. This including, most prominently, the capacity of our wastewater system to cope with the additional homes and the need for drastic reform in that area.

“There also needs to be a review of how planning is progressed, as it can currently be up to two years after money has been allocated before a shovel breaks ground.

“With 48,000 people currently sitting on a waiting list for a social home, addressing the housing crisis must be of paramount importance for the Executive. We now need to see the Ministers for Finance, Infrastructure and Communities working together and synchronising their actions to ensure this public money is best utilised to deliver the new houses that are so desperately needed.”