As the new Senedd term began, so came with it the start of Jane Bryant first full term as cabinet secretary for housing and planning. Initially appointed shortly before the summer recess, the cabinet secretary has taken on her new role during one of the most challenging periods the sector has seen for some time.
Even with tough external pressures, housing associations have managed to deliver 70-80 per cent of Wales’s new social homes over the past few years. Audit Wales’s recent report on affordable homes acknowledged the significant price inflation which has impacted progress towards the 20,000 social homes target. Now, for Welsh Government to meet the March 2026 goal, significant additional investment is needed, partly due to pressures outside its control.
In her evidence session to the Local Government and Housing Committee as part of its inquiry into social housing supply, Ms Bryant shared some insight into where Welsh Government’s collective minds are on addressing the problems we continue to see.
AN EFFECTIVE FORUM
It was good to hear that there is continued focus on addressing barriers to delivery and we hope that the affordable homes taskforce will provide an effective forum to delve into these. However, any action taken needs to happen alongside increasing capital budgets to maintain the pipeline of new social homes and support it to grow over time. We agree with Audit Wales’s view that there are different ways of working that may help us to maintain and increase the pipeline of homes. But ultimately providing certainty through confirmed long-term funding, and overcoming delivery constraints, is crucial to unlock development barriers in the long run.
EXPLORE LONGER FUNDING CYCLES
One positive nod towards this came out in the evidence session, with Welsh Government committing to explore longer funding cycles, taking inspiration from progress in other sectors such as education. As ever this should not sit alone – it should be alongside a long-term social rent settlement.
At time of writing, we are still waiting to see the inquiry’s outcome, though there is one factor that has become clear throughout the process: better evidence is needed to ensure any plans to improve are data and insight informed and do not take away from resources that are already stretched to deliver.