Minister Jack Chambers is facing serious accusations after Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty claimed that he “deliberately deceived” the public during the election campaign by withholding key housing data. According to Doherty, had the true numbers on new-home builds been made public, it could have changed the outcome of the election.
A spokesperson for Chambers, who now holds the position of public expenditure minister, has rejected these claims. The accusations stem from the government’s assertion during the election campaign that nearly 40,000 new homes would be built in 2024, a figure that many believed was unrealistic. In reality, the Housing for All plan set a target of 33,450 new builds, but only 30,330 homes were completed, a 6.7% drop from 2023, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), reported Belfast Telegraph.
