People 'have to lie' for housing

The housing shortage in Londonderry is leading some people to lie about their circumstances, a councillor has said.

"People are being forced into a culture of dishonesty" according to Sinn Féin's Patricia Logue.

At a council meeting on Tuesday it was announced that the housing need is now so severe that there will be a crisis meeting with Minister Margaret Ritchie.

DUP councillor Joe Miller said: "New applications and homelessness have gone up but housing is coming down."

Councillor Logue said she believed there were some "very genuine cases", but that people should not be forced into a position where they have to lie to be given priority by the Housing Executive.

The SDLP's John Tierney said people in desperation will do things to try and get themselves enough points in the system the executive uses to assess when someone should be given a new home.

"In order to reach the 180 points required, you need to be homeless, overcrowded, sharing and have at least one or two children and even then people still aren't at the top of the list," he added.

The head of the housing executive in the northwest, Sean Mackie, said more funding was needed to meet social housing targets.

He also added that more than 100 new homes have already begun to be built in Derry, but more money is needed to met targets.