Copyright bbc
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme, Ms Long said: "Housing associations play a crucial role themselves individually in deciding what scheme should go ahead, what is viable and what is less viable." She added that the department has "made a smart set of decisions but it is part of an overall package". "Housing associations have said for a number of years we need certainty and so the minister has introduced a housing supply strategy and that would give certainty over the level of ambition and the number of homes. "The other key parts to this package of measures is two separate reviews and housing associations have also recognised that these reviews are necessary. They've called for them. The first one is to reduce the kind of constraints on associations in terms of the type of homes they design," she said. "So there's a lot of additional costs in there for associations." Ms Long said that "bringing the grant rate down is in keeping with the ways in which social housing is financed elsewhere in the UK". "This is about creating the conditions for investment in social housing."
