Members of Northern Ireland Housing Council welcomed to the Braid

Members of the Northern Ireland Housing Council (NIHC) were welcomed to the Braid by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council as Alderman Tommy Nicholl MBE hosted his first meeting as Chairman of the NIHC.

NIHC is an advisory and consultative body that considers any matter affecting housing referred to it by the Department for Communities and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive or any matter, which appears to the Housing Council to be a matter relevant to housing on the wider front.

Present at the meeting was Chief Executive of the Housing Executive, Clark Bailie; Assistant Director of the Housing Executive, Caroline Connor and representatives from the Department of Communities and from the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Alderman Tommy Nicholl said: “It was a pleasure to welcome members of the Northern Ireland Housing Council to the Braid. This meeting was an opportunity for us to discuss a range of issues affecting housing policy.

“We discussed the regeneration of town centres, the fundamental review of housing allocations and cavity wall insulations.

“We received a presentation on the Housing Executives Chronic Homelessness Action Plan as well as an update on the Departments top housing issues.

“I was also pleased to welcome Eileen Patterson and Justin Catwright to our meeting and to hear more about the work of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

“I am already encouraged by the work of the Housing Council to date and I look forward to working with Ministers, council members and other organisations on key housing related issues during my two year term as Chairman.”