
Henry Riley 4am - 7am
13 June 2025, 14:04
About 50 households in Northern Ireland have received housing assistance since disorder broke out in Ballymena this week, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) has said.
Around 14 families have secured emergency accommodation following unrest in Ballymena, which continued into its fourth consecutive night on Thursday.
The evening saw police came under attack once again in Northern Ireland while disorder spread through multiple towns.
The disorder started on Monday after a peaceful protest over an alleged sexual assault in the County Antrim town.
Since then, missiles have been thrown at police after a protest in the town of Portadown and in Ballymena, while Northern Ireland’s police chief warned “bigots and racists” behind unrest in the region that his officers will be coming after them.
Police said 63 of their officers have been injured over four nights of violence after coming under "sustained attack with heavy masonry and fireworks".
A family with children were moved from a house in Coleraine after they were targeted in a racially motivated arson attack, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
The PSNI said they received a report at approximately 3am on Friday of a fire at the rear of a property in the Mount Street area of the town.
They said an oil tank had been set alight, causing damage to the outside of the property and filling the property with smoke.
"A man and woman and their four young children who were inside the house at the time were thankfully able to escape uninjured," a spokesperson said.
The demand for emergency and temporary accommodation is "extremely high", according to NIHE chief executive Grainia Long, and this is expected to increase.
Ms Long described the last week as "extraordinary", saying there is an "unprecedented number of families locally who feel it is unsafe to stay in their home".
"Demand is extremely high, and it has been one of those weeks where everyone has had to move very quickly to respond," she said.
"We do expect the numbers to increase as households make decisions about what is safe for them."
While demand for temporary housing is on the rise, Ms Long said the availability of appropriate housing is an issue.
"We don't have any contingency or additional accommodation," she said. "We are working to make sure we have the right numbers of temporary accommodation."
She added that NIHE staff "have been out on the ground, supporting communities, working within them and ensuring their safety", as well as "working with older people who are scared and asking questions about their safety".
Ms Long told BBC News NI that she is "worried about households that we may lose contact with, those who may be vulnerable to exploitation, particularly those with children".