• Analysis commissioned by the Housing Executive – and relied upon by various strands of government – states that 90% of social housing areas are segregated.
  • These findings are based on old data.
  • However, while there may be updated figures in future, for now this figure remains the most up to date.

During a 25 March Assembly debate on the financial and social impacts of division, Alliance Party MLA Eoin Tennyson claimed:

“Over the course of my lifetime, Northern Ireland has been on a journey towards becoming a more progressive, inclusive and united place. However, despite the enormous strides forward that we have taken together, young people today still grow up in a community where children are, largely, educated apart; 90% of social housing remains segregated; peace walls divide communities; and paramilitary organisations continue to exert a toxic influence.”

The same statistic on social housing (in bold, above) was repeated by SDLP MLA Colin McGrath, who said:

“It is timely, given the constraints on our public finances, that we look critically at the cost of division in our society and reflect on how, in 2025, the ambition to create a more shared society in 1998 has completely flatlined. It is not as though we have the luxury of being able to finance a divided society, which comes with a price tag, as the motion outlines. The 2016 figure of £833 million, indeed, is undoubtedly much higher in today’s money. As an example of that, a Pivotal report released last week highlighted the fact that 90% of social housing is still segregated, in contrast to the finding that 73% of people say that they want to live in a shared neighbourhood.”

This claim is supported by evidence.

Research commissioned by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) based on granular data from the 2011 Census, and used in their Community Cohesion Strategy 2015-20, found that 90% of social housing areas in NI are segregated.

While these figures are based on ageing data and are likely to be updated in future, NIHE told us that this remains the most up-to-date figure right now. (NIHE conducts assessments of segregation in social housing on an ongoing basis, see examples here, here and here).

For more details, read on.

  • Definitions

It’s worth noting precisely what is meant by this. NIHE’s research found that 90% of social housing areas are segregated. This is not precisely the same thing as saying that 90% of social housing is contained in segregated areas, because the size of different social housing schemes can vary considerably.

This is a slightly different thing and, if calculated, might result in a different finding (that could be higher than or lower than or the same as 90%). It would be fair to say that 90% of social housing is segregated, based on either definition, but this fact check focuses on the former.

The definition of segregated, in terms of housing, is an area where 80% or more of the population comes from one community/religious background (see page 151 of this Community Relations Council report). The NIHE told FactCheckNI that, should this research be updated once again, the same definition would be used “to enable meaningful comparison.”

  • Sources

FactCheckNI contacted both MLAs about the statistic they raised in the Assembly.

Mr Tennyson responded by pointing us to a May 2023 report from the think tank Pivotal, Reconciliation and deprivation: twin challenges for Northern Ireland, which includes the following infographic:

Figure 1 – source: Pivotal

Mr McGrath cited a different report from Pivotal, published last month, Achieving greater integration in education and housing, which states:

“Only 8% of children attend integrated schools, and 90% of social housing remains segregated.”

This more recent report also contains a similar infographic to Figure 1.

  • Working backwards

As can be seen from Figure 1, Pivotal cited a strategy paper from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) from around a decade ago as its own source for the information, the Housing Executive Community Cohesion Strategy 2015-20, which includes the following:

“Segregation in Northern Ireland has created a segmented housing market, especially within social housing. Research has found that the most segregated communities are in the urban areas of Belfast, Derry/Londonderry and Craigavon. Over 90% of social housing areas remain segregated into predominantly single communities, with this rising to 94% in Belfast.”

FactCheckNI also contacted the think tank, which noted the NIHE strategy and further referred us to a news report about the strategy which highlights the statistic, as well as research from last August produced by Belfast City Council and the NI Executive,  Segregation and the Environment – Breaking Down Barriers, which states:

“Segregated housing is still a major issue. In Northern Ireland the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) itself accepts 90% of social housing is segregated in Northern Ireland, rising to 94% in Belfast – more than before the conclusion of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.”

  • NIHE

Based on all the above, clearly there is an evidence base for this statistic. However, the origin of the figure is the Housing Executive – and, specifically, research commissioned by them to look into levels of segregation in social housing – but the NIHE strategy was published around a decade ago.

We contacted NIHE about this, and asked them if the figure is still accurate. They told us that, as things stand, that is the most recent figure that is available (based on granular data from the 2011 Census) and so it should be considered accurate, but added that there is an expectation that new research could be available within the next year or so.

Whether any updated statistics will still show that 90% of NI social housing is segregated is a matter for the future. Accepting the significant caveat that the ultimate source for this data is rather old, the claim that 90% of social housing is segregated (and, specifically, that 90% of social housing areas are segregated) is supported by evidence.