The Welsh Government is on course to meet its 20,000 social homes target but the housing system is still in crisis, says an all-party Senedd committee.
The Local Government and Housing Committee welcomed progress so far but said it has also heard evidence of slow progress in implementing the recommendations of the Affordable Housing Taskforce.
In a letter to housing secretary Jayne Bryant, committee chair John Griffiths highlights a wide-ranging set of issues raised in evidence sessions and written submissions in the follow-up to its inquiry into social housing supply in 2024.
He said witnesses had highlighted the need for ‘stronger leadership from the Welsh Government to ensure the housing emergency is understood as a shared, cross-cutting priority’.
There was a need for ‘clear and consistent communication’ to make social housing supply a top priority throughout all areas of government.
And he added that the committee believed that ‘bringing the right to adequate housing into Welsh law would help establish this as an essential priority across the whole of Welsh Government’.
Most witnesses told the committee that the Welsh Government as making some progress in implementing the recommendations of the Affordable Housing Taskforce but some said it was difficult to see progress from the outside and highlighted a lack of transparency.
On the 20,000 target, all witnesses were confident that the goal will be met by the end of 2026 but some questioned whether the increase in delivery was the result of an ‘unsustainable level’ of resource input.
The committee reiterated its recommendation – accepted in principle by Welsh Government – of a target that social housing should make up 20 per cent of the housing stock.
And it called again for a recommendation rejected by the Welsh Government that it should set up a National Development Corporation to give focus to the social and affordable homes programme.
Other key issues raised in the letter include:
- Exploring ways for the Development Bank of Wales to become a direct funder of social and affordable housing developments
- Innovation on land value capture including strategic acquisition of land in areas where values are expected to rise, for example because of public infrastructure investment
- A separate housing quality standard for the acquisition of permanent social homes
- Help to free up developments stalled by new guidance on managing marine nitrate pollution
- An update on implementation of the taskforce’s recommendation on planning
- Increased transparency on Section 106 renegotiations
- Details on how the Welsh Government will balance tenant affordability and the financial sustainability of social landlords in policy on rents and rent convergence
- The need for national action on training and skills development.
The letter calls from a response from the Welsh Government by March 19 to enable it to be considered by the committee and shared with stakeholders by the end of the Senedd term.