A COMMUNITY rally has been held in support of a West Belfast family who face eviction from their Clonard home of over 40 years.
The house in Waterford Street has been home to the Reid family since 1983. After Winnie Reid died in December 2018, grandson Marc moved in to look after his grandad Harry. When Harry sadly passed away in May 2021, Marc kept paying the rent and lives there to this day.
Marc is now faced with the prospect of handing the keys back to the much-loved family home as he looks elsewhere for a house.
Last Wednesday night, a protest was held at the house in support of Marc and his family.
Speaking afterwards, Marc said: "I want to thank CATU, Gerry Carroll and Beechmount Residents' Collective, as well as all my friends and family, especially my mum, Caroline, her partner Dee and my uncle John, as well as members of the local community for all their support in the fight against my eviction.
"This stressful situation has affected me in many negative ways, and has caused a lot of worries.
"The only solutions I have been offered from the Housing Executive would cause me to be disconnected from this community and potentially ruin my career, as their solution of temporary accommodation would cause me to move around Northern Ireland day-by-day at various locations.
"The whole situation has taken a toll on my mental health, but I will continue to fight for my home thanks to the support network I have.”
West Belfast MLA Gerry Carroll attended the protest and said the case highlights the discriminatory nature of the Housing Executive's succession policy.
“Marc and the Reid family are showing exceptional bravery in incredibly difficult circumstances," he said.
"Marc and many other tenants in similar circumstances are simply asking for suitable alternative accommodation, which the Housing Executive is failing to offer.
"The Housing Executive’s succession policy is arguably discriminatory, making tenants in areas of high housing need, such as West Belfast, homeless.
"On top of being fundamentally flawed, the policy is also inconsistently applied. The state should be massively expanding the supply of social housing for the more than 48,000 families on the waiting list - not actively contributing to the housing crisis by making social housing tenants homeless.”
A Housing Executive spokesperson said: “In Northern Ireland, the rules around succession in social housing are set out by specific legislation. We have engaged with the occupant of this property over the course of several years.
“The current occupant has no legal right to occupy this property. The County Court granted us an order for possession in October.
“As stated, we have persistently attempted to engage with the occupant to come to a resolution to this issue. In circumstances like these, the application to enforce the order for possession of the property in question is unavoidable.
“Once the property is returned to us, it will once again be offered to a household on the social housing waiting list.
“The current occupant has presented to us as homeless and we have already carried out a housing assessment on their case. We encourage the applicant to return the property at the earliest possible time.”
