Sally Hales looks forward to taking over as WHQ editor for the Summer 2026 edition.
I am delighted to be taking the reins at Welsh Housing Quarterly. As a journalist, I’ve worked on a number of special interest publications, from health and safety to knitting, but none so fascinating and admirable as the housing sector.
We’d all love to live in a society where having a warm, safe home is a given but, sadly, particularly in these strange and unusual times, this is far from the reality for many.
That’s why everyone who works every day to ensure people have safe harbour have my respect and admiration. I hope that, during my editorship, I can continue to help the sector tackle these challenges and celebrate its successes.
My career spans local and national newspapers, magazines, books and websites, so I’m used to parsing new subjects. But I can genuinely say that I’m looking forward to learning as much as can about the housing sector in Wales.
A native Newportionan who now lives in Cardiff via Manchester, Bath, Swansea and London, I’ve been a student tenant, professional tenant, reluctant landlord – who buys their first home just weeks before the 2008 financial crisis? – an owner of a newbuild and a DIY renovator of two crumbling terraces.
While I’ve always been lucky enough to have a roof over my head, I understand the world of high rents, insecure tenancies and mortgage pressure, and how you can wake up one day to find geopolitics and global markets have, at best, spoiled your plans and, at worst, ripped away your security.
Jules and the WHQ board have been hugely supportive in helping me find my feet and I am grateful to them and everyone else who has offered their time and knowledge while I get my feet under the table.
Please do get in touch with me with your ideas for articles and for WHQ more widely. I would love to hear your thoughts. I can be contacted on sallylhales@yahoo.co.uk or 07979 362076.