The latest news from the Welsh Government Knowledge and Analytical Services team.
Welsh Government Housing Research
Recent publications
- Evaluation of Homelessness Legislation (Part 2 of the Housing Act (Wales) 2014)This evaluation explores how the legislation has been implemented and what the experience has been of those seeking help under the new law.
- Evaluation of homelessness services to adults in the secure estate. The evaluation assesses how changes to legislative duties towards those leaving custody have been implemented by local authorities, prisons and probation providers both in prison and in the community. It also undertakes an initial assessment of the impact of these changes on ex-offenders and identifies good practice and areas for improvement.
Current projects
- A review of the social housing rent policyin Wales is also underway. This is exploring whether the current rent policy is fit for purpose and achieves its original objectives.
- We have also recently commissioned an evaluation of homelessness services available to young people leaving the secure estate. It will attempt to understand the early impacts of legislation on young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness as they approach their release.
All housing research reports can be found at: gov.wales/research
Housing Conditions Evidence Programme
Welsh Housing Condition Survey 2017/18 (WHCS)
After a successful nine months of fieldwork, 2,552 property inspections were achieved by the end of April, more than the desired 2,500. In March, we conducted a user survey to gather views on the topics, priorities and format of our outputs and a summary of this work is now available on our web page:Welsh Housing Conditions Survey 2017-18 – Output Options.
This, together with discussions with policy colleagues, has informed our plans for dissemination and the statistical first release will be published in November, with as many headline analyses as possible in the time available. Detailed topic specific reports will then follow from Q1 2019. Updated fuel poverty estimates will also be available early 2019.
Housing Stock Analytical Resource for Wales (HSAR)
An initial proof of concept version of HSAR has been built and the first demonstration statistics extracted. This internal test version includes Energy Performance Certificates (EPC), Rent Smart Wales, Land Registry and Rent Officers data as well as data from Powys local authority and Trivallis, one of Wales’ largest registered social landlords. Work is ongoing, to cleanse and link data.
A first progress report on the Housing Stock Analytical Resource for Wales (HSAR)has been published, to update users on progress in identifying administrative data sources relevant to the development of HSAR, current thinking on the model for hosting the resource and allowing access to the data, and to invite feedback to help us ensure our programme will meet the needs of users in future.
Housing Statistics
Recent publications
- Social housing sales, 2017-18 (annual release) -12 July.
- Help to Buy-Wales, April to June 2018 (headline) – 25 July
- Homelessness in Wales 2017-18 (annual release) – 26 July
- Social Landlord Housing Stock and Rents 2017-18 (annual release) – 8 August
- New House Building, April to June 2018 (headline) -13 September.
- .Homelessness, April to June 2018 (headline) – 27 September
- Welsh Housing Quality Standard, 2017-18 (annual release) – 4 October
- Affordable Housing provision, 2017-18 (annual release) – 18 October.
Future publications:
- Help to Buy-Wales, July to September 2018 (headline) -25 October
- New House Building, July to September 2018 (headline) – 6 December
- Homelessness, July to September 2018 (headline) – 13 December
- Housing demolitions, 2017-18 (headline) – 18 December
- Housing hazards and licenses (annual release) – 18 December.
All releases are available from www.wales.gov.uk/statistics
Social housing rent arrears data
Following the temporary removal of social housing rent arrears data from our website due to concerns that the data provided by some social landlords, we published revised rent arrears data on 11 July.
Cross-Government Housing Work
In May, the Deputy National Statistician in ONS issued a bloghighlighting proposed cross-government working on housing statistics in response to a recent Office for Statistics Regulation review. It highlights the work we in Wales already have planned for housing statistics, whilst also reinforcing commitment across the UK to work together on improving housing statistics. A work planwas also published.
A Government Statistical Service Housing and Planning webpage was published in August 2018 which includes an Overview and Guide to Housing and Planning statistics across the UK. See gss.civilservice.gov.uk/guidances/working-with-users-2/housing-and-planning-statistics/
Estimates of Housing Need and Demand
Estimates of future additional housing need are based on estimates of newly arising need and existing unmet need. The latest estimates of future housing need in Wales were produced by the late Alan Holmans and were published by the Public Policy Institute for Wales (PPIW) in October 2015. The Holmans figures are based on household projections which are now out of date and do not reflect the latest trends in terms of population and households.
There is a need within the Welsh Government, and more widely, for more up-to-date estimates of future housing need (including for the National Development Framework and housing policy decision making). Various approaches to determining housing need are currently being considered, including the Scottish Housing Need and Demand Assessment tool. An external technical stakeholder group has recently been set up to input to these discussions – the group includes experts from local authorities and the WLGA.
Welsh Index of Multiple deprivation (WIMD)
The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation identifies the most deprived small areas in Wales, and will be updated in 2019 (last done in 2014). A consultation will be launched during autumn 2018 on proposed indicators for WIMD 2019. This will include proposals for the housing domain.
New House Building data
As part of an on-going process of reviewing the information collected and published on new house building in Wales, KAS ais currently in discussions with policy colleagues and data providers around possible options for changes aimed at improving its quality, coverage and consistency.