The latest news from the Welsh Government Knowledge and Analytical Services team
Welsh Government Housing Research
The following research projects are underway:
- Research to explore the multi-occupied building workforce is due to begin soon. This will support a comprehensive review of the existing building safety system, to inform reforms to the way multi-occupied residential buildings are inspected and regulated.
- An evaluation of homelessness interventions in Wales to support homelessness services transformation is underway. This research will build the evidence base across homelessness prevention and intervention
- An evidence review of literature on overcrowding for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities will be published soon. It aims to assess evidence on how overcrowding may impact households.
All housing research reports can be found at: gov.wales/research
Housing Conditions Evidence Programme
We continue to work with the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) team to provide analytical support on their work to develop the post-2020 WHQS. Similarly we continue to work with the Innovative Models & Housing Decarbonisation team on the development and delivery of a programme of action to decarbonise all Welsh homes by 2050.
We have been supporting the Building Safety teams in their work on high rise residential buildings and other teams on the second homes agenda, using council tax data.
Work on the options and business case for the next Welsh Housing Conditions Survey has begun. Our focus will remain utilising the administrative data we have been able to access to provide policy support.
If you have any queries, suggestions for analytical work we could undertake or data sources we could look into please do contact us: Stats.HousingConditions@gov.wales
Housing Statistics
As the demand increased for statistics and data to measure the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we had to change our data gathering and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explained this further and, in line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, decisions were made to cancel or postpone some publications.
We have now resumed publication of most of the regular statistical outputs on housing and homelessness. Recent publications include in particular:
- Help to Buy – Wales (Shared Equity Loan Scheme): April 2021 to March 2022 was released on 18 May
- New House Building: April 2021 to March 2022 was released on 28 June.
- All releases are available from www.wales.gov.uk/statistics
We have also continued to publish monthly management information on rough sleeping and provision of accommodation for the homeless. This management information has not undergone the same level of quality assurance as official statistics.
Please note that the rough sleeping estimates detailed in this output are produced differently to the annual rough sleeper count. Therefore, we do not recommend direct comparisons between these estimates and the rough sleeper count
We welcome feedback on the content and presentation of any of these statistics and management information to stats.housing@gov.wales.
Users of housing statistics may also be wish to be aware of the regular publication of data on Land Taxation Tax statistics by the Welsh Revenue Authority
Next Housing Information Group (HIG) meeting
The last meeting of the Housing Information Group took place on 18 May. The agenda, papers and minutes can found on the Welsh Government website. The next meeting is due to take place on 28 September 2022. Further information will be available in due course.