Issue 135: Autumn 2024

The law in action

Wales has an enviable record of introducing ground-breaking legislation on housing and homelessness and more is on the way soon.

This special issue of WHQ looks forwards to the ending homelessness legislation expected early in 2025. Articles from Debbie Thomas, Robin White and Katie Dalton look at what it needs to do to raise the bar and ensure that homelessness is rare, brief and unrepeated, while Clare Budden considers the balance between law and leadership. We also preview the imminent application of Welsh Language Standards to housing associations with articles from Osian Llywelyn and Rhys Evans.

Next year also marks the 10th anniversary of one of the most trail-blazing pieces of legislation, the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015. Derek Walker asks what more the housing sector can do to deliver its ambitious goals.

If campaigners have their way, we could also see a right to adequate housing incorporated into Welsh law. Dave Rowlands presents a road-map to the white paper expected soon and introducing a Bill, while Jeff Smith reports on Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s latest Wales is Not for Sale rally.

However, with local authorities and landlords highlighting the pressure of enforcing past legislation, ambition has to be balanced with implementation. Cerys Clark reports on how Welsh housing professionals are feeling the stress, with one telling a new survey that: ‘All the legislative reform falls on the local authority to manage with little additional financial support from Welsh Government.’

Finance is also at the heart of the recent warning from Audit Wales that Welsh Government will not meet its target of 20,000 new low carbon social homes without additional investment. Mark Jeffs looks at the options for ministers.

It’s social landlords who face tough questions in the wake of the final report from the Grenfell Tower inquiry, says Duncan Forbes. Do boards, cabinets and executives know the answers?

The Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities reported over the summer on what can be done to keep the language thriving. Simon Brooks and Shan Lloyd Williams look at some of the key recommendations and what they mean for housing.

Cyngor Gwynedd recently became the first local authority in the UK to impose an Article 4 direction requiring planning permission to convert homes into second homes and short-term lets. We ask cabinet member Craig ab Iago about how it’s going so far and about the council’s progress on homelessness.

With more articles on housing’s role in the foundational economy, the rise of new approaches to investment in placemaking and life in temporary accommodation, this Autumn issue of WHQ ranges far and wide over what’s happening in housing and regeneration in Wales.

Jules Birch, editor, WHQ