The DUP's North Belfast MP, Mr Nigel Dodds, has met senior RUC officers to voice his concern about recent petrol-bomb attacks on Protestant homes along the city's peace line.
Meanwhile, an SDLP delegation, led by the Agriculture Minister, Ms Brid Rodgers, has held talks with the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, to discuss attacks on nationalist homes.
On Monday night three petrol-bombs were thrown across the peace line from the nationalist Springfield Road. Two failed to ignite but one set fire to the roof of a bungalow in the Kirk Street area off the Protestant Shankill Road.
Residents said they were living "in constant fear". Many of the bungalows were completed only in February and house mainly pensioners and disabled people. Mr Dodds said the latest attacks were a "worrying escalation" of an ongoing problem and called on the RUC to step up security in the area.
"It is deplorable what is happening at the peace line. We have pensioners living in accommodation specially built for them who are being attacked on a nightly basis," he said.
He hoped the Northern Ireland Office would listen to the difficulties of local residents. "It is imperative that proper protection is installed and pensioners are able to live in their homes without fear of sectarian attack," Mr Dodds added.
Sinn Fein condemned the latest attacks which the party's North Belfast MLA, Mr Gerry Kelly, described as deplorable. He called on those responsible to stop, saying the attacks served "no cause other than to increase tensions at an already volatile time".
The SDLP, meanwhile, pressed the Chief Constable to outline his intelligence on the in creasing intensity of loyalist at tacks on nationalist homes. Ms Rodgers said many communities felt they were under threat and were living in constant fear.
"[We want to know] if the volume, range and intensity of these attacks means that the UDA or UFF is orchestrating sectarian attacks. There is a real concern and anxiety that the attacks will intensify, and who and what is behind them needs to be addressed," she added.
Her party colleague, Mr Dan ny O'Connor, whose Co Antrim home in Larne has repeatedly been the target of loyalist at tacks, said the level and quality of policing were perceived as unsatisfactory by many nationalists, and issues such as RUC sick leave and bureaucracy needed to be addressed.