Jim Shannon

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I thank the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for setting the scene so well, and I wish the Minister well in her new role. I will ask her for one thing at the beginning. This morning I met representatives from Centrepoint, which looks after homeless young people, and I understand that they have written to the Minister, as part of the youth chapter collective, to ensure that youth homelessness is a central part of what the Government are doing. Will the Minister agree to a meeting on that? In the short time available, let me give a quick perspective on Northern Ireland, the stats for which are incredibly worrying. Some 7,600 households presented as homeless in 2024-25. Of those, 67% were accepted as statutory homeless, with 5,200 living in temporary accommodation. Here is the big thing: the cost of temporary accommodation, according to the Northern Ireland Audit Office, is some £39 million. For us in Northern Ireland, it is a massive issue. In my office, housing issues and affordable housing make up most of the issues we deal with. I think of those living in accommodation, but then the landlord decides to sell the property and makes them homeless, and when they go for private accommodation they find that the price is absolutely out of reach. One of the solutions would be for uninhabitable homes to become habitable. In Northern Ireland we have almost 1,600 or 1,700 of them. A nationwide campaign on that could turn around accessible housing very quickly. It is not the Minister’s responsibility, but we need to be able to offer first-time buyers affordable homes. That would take some of the pressure off. Those are my quick requests; in two minutes that is all I can say.