Communities and tackling poverty minister Lesley Griffiths marks her first year – and WHQ’s 25th – with a progress report on housing in Wales.
I was appointed minister with responsibility for housing and regeneration in Wales just over a year ago. The past year has been a landmark one for housing in Wales and I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved so far, as well as the direction in which we are going.
When it comes to housing, Wales has hit the ground the running, making good use of the law-making powers granted to the Assembly in May 2011, to take forward our vision for the housing sector.
HOUSING ACT
Wales’s first ever Housing Act became law last year. This far- reaching legislation has made huge improvements, right across the sector, ensuring more people than ever before have access to a decent, affordable home.
The Housing (Wales) Act is the most fundamental reform to homelessness legislation in over 30 years. The legislation puts Wales ahead of the rest of the UK, placing a duty on local authorities to work with people who are at risk of losing their home, to help find a solution to their problems.
The new provisions will prevent three out of four people at risk of homelessness from going through the trauma of losing their home. Preventing homelessness and protecting our most vulnerable people is one of my top priorities I am proud Wales is leading the way on this important issue.
As well as providing support to people facing homelessness, the Housing (Wales) Act offers protection to people who rent their homes. The legislation seeks to improve letting and management standards for the 184,000 households who rent from a private landlord in Wales. With one in three people now renting overall, a strong rental sector with good working practices is essential. This legislation means Wales will become the first country in the UK where landlords and agents need to undertake training to ensure they are aware of their responsibilities.
The new landlord registration and licensing scheme, Rent Smart Wales, comes into effect this autumn. It will provide a simple way for landlords to register and become licensed. Rent Smart Wales will not only improve the situation for tenants, it will also help good landlords by improving the sector’s reputation.
HOUSES INTO HOMES SCHEME
Our flagship Houses into Homes scheme also demonstrates our innovative approach to increasing the Welsh housing supply in a time of limited funding. Houses into Homes provides interest free loans to owners of properties which have been empty for more than six months, to bring them back into use.
Since the scheme was introduced, there has been a dramatic 99 per cent increase in the annual figure for long- term empty properties turned into much needed homes. Forward thinking policies, such as this one, are why we are well on our way to smashing our ambitious target of bringing 5,000 empty properties back into use this Assembly term.
We are working hard to increase housing supply, investing over £400 million in our Social Housing Grant programme and expanding our innovative Housing Finance Grant scheme to build an extra 2,000 affordable homes. Thanks to such policies, we are making great progress towards our ambitious target of 10,000 additional affordable homes during this Assembly term. We are also making good progress on the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS), which is driving up standards in social housing across Wales.
The housing industry in Wales is seeing a sustained recovery. Just last month, statistics were released showing between April and June 2015, a total of 1,750 new homes were built in Wales, a rise of 10 per cent on the same quarter last year. These latest figures reveal a continuing positive trend in house building activity in Wales. During 2014-15 a total of 6,955 new homes were started, a rise of 20 per cent on the previous year.
Our Help to Buy Wales scheme is playing an important role in this recovery and is expected to support the construction of up to 5,000 new homes. I look forward to announcing further details of our extended Help to Buy Wales scheme once we have received budget allocations from the UK Government.
EASING THE PRESSURE
We also want to ease the pressure on our housing stock. This is why I am taking action on right to buy. Following a consultation which revealed public support for our proposals, I have halved the maximum discount available to people who want to buy their council house to £8,000 and am developing legislation to end right to buy in the next Assembly term.
The decisive action we are taking will not only help protect Wales’s social housing stock, it also clearly shows the very different approach we are taking to housing in Wales in comparison to England.
Our decision to end right to buy, whilst the UK Government is extending its scheme, demonstrates devolution in practice. I am proud to say we are protecting Wales’s social housing stock to ensure it is available for those who need it most.