The Department for Communities (DfC), with the responsibility for housing policy, issued a public consultation in June 2019 seeking views on its proposals to change the definition of “Affordable Housing” for Northern Ireland. A consultation paper titled “Definition of Affordable Housing” was published on 24 June 2019 with the public consultation closing on 13 September 2019. The overall aim of their consultation was “to agree a clear definition of affordable housing that can be applied consistently in legislation, policy, local plans and in practice”. DfC issued their new definition of Affordable Housing on 1 April 2021, as reproduced below.
The relevant DfC documents can be accessed via this link to the DfC website: