Wales goes to the polls in May next year to choose the next Welsh government, in addition 2026 will also mark the 80th anniversary of the passing of the National Health Service Act (1946).
I am reminded of Aneurin Bevan’s famous quote:
‘No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.’
That fundamental contract that the NHS legislation made with the citizens of the UK has yet to be challenged by any government in its 80-year history. Indeed, politicians who float thoughts of tinkering with that fundamental principle, now enshrined in our social contract, is hauled across our collective public coals, and quite rightly so.
Yet, we’ve allowed a situation to develop over the last four decades, or so, which has resulted in tens of thousands across Wales being unable to access the affordable home they need.
Despite record levels of Welsh Government capital investment into supplying new homes at social rent during the current Senedd term, overall the report card does not make for good reading. Recent work by Shelter Cymru found 170,000 individuals (90,000 households) are on social housing waiting lists – at current levels of development it will take 35 years to build enough homes to meet that need.
At the more acute end, we see the human tragedy of the housing emergency. There are around 11,000 people currently housed in temporary accommodation, almost 3,000 of whom are children who have to do their homework in crowded B&B rooms, have nowhere to play and their parents have no proper cooking facilities Children’s life chances are being eroded for every extra night they spend without a permanent home.
Moreover, hundreds of poor souls are still sleeping in doorways and under bridges as the first of autumn start to visit us overnight.
So, returning to the spirit of Nye Bevan’s quote, can a society legitimately call itself ‘civilised’ if we allow the picture I paint above to prevail, not least that we know that poor quality housing – or indeed no access to housing at all – is a massive contributor to poor health and increased demand on our already overstretched health service.
That’s why central to CIH Cymru’s proposition is to fundamentally change the lens through which we view housing by legislating to incorporate the United Nations covenant on a right to an adequate home into Welsh law. To draw a line in the sand and say that the next, and successive, Welsh Governments will make providing a safe, sustainable and affordable place to call home for everyone in Wales a foundation mission of government..
At the heart of that is investing more into new social housing, to rebalance housing tenures and reverse the over-financialisaton of the housing system that we’ve seen over the last four decades, so that we have the options available to meet housing need in Wales.
The right to adequate housing will also ensure that all available resource will be allocated to mending our broken housing system because the question must be asked – does 2.2% of total government spend in Wales that we currently spend on housing (or 4.8% of the total Welsh Government budget) truly reflect a reasonable response to the scale of emergency we face?
We’ve been campaigning for incorporation for several years now alongside Tai Pawb and Shelter Cymru. Our campaign’s independent cost-benefit analysis from Alma Economics says incorporation will save the Welsh public purse £11.5bn over 30 years against a spend of £5bn.
But we accept that this will not be achieved over night. Legislation will only be the starting point, much like the 1946 NHS Act was for universal health care.
We have produced a housing strategy to accompany our manifesto asks which sets out the facts, figures and further reading that has helped inform our policy asks:
- The amount of investment we need to allocate,
- How we need to review housing need,
- How we need to streamline our planning system,
- How we need to better use public land,
- How we need to invest in our workforce, and
- The need to tackle head on the stigma surrounding social housing, and advocate for the positive impact that it has had, and will have, on wider society, the public purse and indeed economic growth.
Credit where credit is due. The Welsh Government and the housing sector have not shied away from the challenge, and we have made some positive steps forward during this Senedd term.
As mentioned previously, we’ve had record levels of capital investment into providing more homes at social rent. We’ve had significant investment into making our homes more sustainable and more fuel efficient. We’ve increased investment into housing support (a key element if sustaining tenancies and avoiding homelessness), and we’ve focussed on innovative new approaches such as the Housing First model (which has played a central part in almost eradicating street homelessness in Finland).
In addition, the Senedd is currently navigating legislation that will make homelessness services more accessible and make our buildings safer.
But the report card remains a difficult read!
I hear politicians from across the political spectrum repeatedly tell us that a good, affordable and sustainable home is a fundamental human right, the building blocks of becoming a healthy and functioning citizen.
Yet for tens of thousands, that right remains out of reach. We call on the next Welsh Government to change the paradigm and make home a foundation mission– to create their 1946 moment!
Matt Dicks is director of CIH Cymru. To view CIH Cymru’s manifesto and housing strategy visit: Senedd Elections 2026. For me see the Autumn edition of WHQ out later this month.