Housing Rights

There are a variety of types of accommodation available to young people in NI. Whether they need to access emergency accommodation, want to rent a property, share with friends or buy a property, it’s vital that the accommodation meets their needs. This course will ensure you can better advise young people on their housing options and housing rights.

This training session will focus specifically on home owners and how to successfully deal with mortgage arrears. We will discuss how to negotiate with lenders and the forbearance options that could be open to debtors when dealing with their mortgage provider.

The course will take place in 6 hour sessions over the course of four days (1st September, 8th September, 15th September, and 22nd September ) Our Housing Advice Training Programme is the ‘must have’ course for those working in housing. This format concentrates on key themes that will enable participants to obtain an accreditation with OCN which enhances their skills and knowledge necessary to provide comprehensive housing advice.

Since Universal Credit has been introduced into Northern Ireland it has brought a new set of challenges for housing providers, tenants, homeowners and those who advise them. Currently additional pressures have been added with claimants managing their tenancies through Covid restrictions. Temporary legislation had been implemented during the pandemic and, with this due to end soon, there is a concern that housing could be affected. This training course provides an introduction to the housing element of Universal Credit and also looks to the possible impacts of temporary amendments to the system during Coronavirus and how, as these draw to a close, they will impact on tenants and homeowners. 

This training session offers specific advice and information for anyone supporting tenants who are in housing arrears. This session is specifically related to tenants in the private and social rented sector and will provide a grounding on debt processes within Northern Ireland. In this session we will cover the legal processes that private and social landlords must follow to regain their property. And we will discuss the process the landlord must follow, including court processes and enforcement.

This informal training course will run over 2 full-day sessions, 15th and 22nd August, 10am-4pm. It will help develop the skills and knowledge of anyone involved in the design and delivery of training events and/or presentations. Participants at this hands on session will have the opportunity to apply what they have learnt by preparing and delivering a short presentation.

As welfare reform and changes to the social fund have taken effect, Housing Rights has found that affordability is consistently one of the top issues encountered by clients. Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) has also found that those living in both the social and private rented sectors are at risk of poverty after housing costs are met. This is particularly the case for low-income households in the private rented sector, who face a particularly high housing cost burden and a high risk of poverty.

*This course will be held online* This course aims to increase understanding of the processes required to get an adaptation within a clients’ home. The session will cover different areas of housing – social rented, private rented and owner occupier, and will discuss the steps followed, depending on the type of adaptation required. It will also cover the different grants available to private rented tenants and home-owners for certain adaptations.

This session will update your knowledge on Welfare Reform and the impacts on the housing situation of vulnerable and low-income households in Northern Ireland. It will also highlight the types of accommodation and groups of people who will remain on Housing Benefit in the short term.

This basic level training course will assist participants in ‘walking through’ the current Housing Selection Scheme points system and the assessment process completed by NIHE to support applicants in gaining social housing.