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Following a review by the Office of National Statistics, registered housing associations may be reclassified to the public sector.

The ONS concluded that the current House Sales Scheme in Northern Ireland, which is compulsory for RHAs, amounts to control which is significant enough to warrant classification to the public sector.

Commenting on the news, Ben Collins, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations (NIFHA), said: “NIFHA welcomes the publication of this consultation on the House Sales Scheme.”

“Northern Ireland is currently the only part of the United Kingdom with a mandatory House Sales Scheme,” he explained. “The Office of National Statistics has indicated that the House Sales Scheme must be removed before reclassification can proceed.”

Outlining the importance of access to private funding sources,  Collins added: “It is vital that reclassification is reversed so that housing association can access private funding which effectively matches pound for pound the monies that are allocated through grant funding.”

“We are currently in discussions with our members about the consultation and will issue a more detailed response in due course,” he concluded.

Nicola McCrudden, CIH director for NI, said: “We welcome this development which is timely given the work that CIH is doing around rethinking social housing policy locally.

“It is true that the desire for people to own their own homes continues to be strong. At CIH we support shared ownership and other means of helping people to achieve the aspiration of owning a home. But if we are supporting people to own their own home, it cannot be at the expense of everyone else.

“We simply can’t continue to sell off social housing at a time when we can’t meet demand for rented housing from people on low incomes.

“Northern Ireland is unique as both Housing Executive and housing association tenants are entitled to buy their homes – this is different to the situation in Britain.

“It would appear that the House Sales Scheme must end if we are to continue to enable our housing associations to access private finance to continue to build much needed homes. If this is the case, we are likely to see it ending for Housing Executive tenants also.”