This report was commissioned by the Department for Communities to investigate the demand for and potential design of an intermediate rent (IR) product for Northern Ireland. The context for this undertaking started from a sense that social housing alone would not be able to address levels of unmet housing need in Northern Ireland (and would miss perceived market failures and gaps in rental provision above the level of social housing interventions).

Furthermore, evidence and practice elsewhere in the UK points to successful interventions to provide affordable rented housing for those unlikely to have a realistic chance of accessing social housing in an area of choice, and unable to access home ownership (many may also struggle to meet market rents in the private rented sector (PRS)). An additional reason for the interest in an intermediate rent product arose from the Minister’s statement in late 2020 which paved the way for such a product but made it clear that it would not be grant funded. The Department for Communities undertook internal and other preliminary research on affordable renting and intermediate products. At this point they commissioned the present research.