Clarissa Corbisiero-Peters takes a look back to the year that was and has a New Year’s resolution for 2017.
2016 saw us decide to leave the European Union, US citizens voted for President Trump and the Great British Bake Off moved to Channel 4. Change was the order of the day for 2016 and for housing in Wales, it was no different.
The year began with one voice from the housing sector – ‘to solve the housing crisis and build a stronger Wales’. The Homes for Wales campaign saw the housing sector come together in coalition to demand priority action for housing from the next Welsh Government. Our calls were heard, the Welsh Government’s Programme for Government committed to 20,000 new affordable homes over the assembly term and makes at least £1.3 bn available for housing.
As the year progressed, the campaigning voice of the sector rang out again. This time to protect Supporting People Programme funding in Wales and to exempt supported housing schemes from benefit caps – via the local housing allowance. The protection of this fund by Welsh Government and the decision by UK Government to relinquish savings from this part of our sector is undoubtedly good news. More work now lies ahead to ensure that the top up funding that is coming to Wales for supported housing is sufficient to meet needs both now and in the future and that there is the certainty which underpins future investment.
As widely anticipated the Office for National Statistics reclassified housing associations in Wales into the public sector in the Autumn. Welsh housing associations now join their counterparts in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England and will have their debt counted on the public balance sheet. Commitments from the First Minister and Cabinet Secretary were swift and gratefully received as was a strong cross party recognition that housing associations’ status as independent bodies is crucial to their ability to blend public and private finance to build homes and invest in services in Wales.
The reclassification of housing associations and necessary regulatory reform it will bring with it did, however, raise a question about the shape and focus of the regulatory system we want and need in Wales. The sector’s summer holiday was duly interspersed with discussions with the regulator, lenders and tenants about a new approach. This approach, launched at CHC’s Annual Conference in December, focuses on risk, transparency and continuous improvement. A year-long sector wide pilot and a Public Accounts Committee inquiry early in 2017 ensures that fit for purpose regulation will stay high on our collective priority list.
We ended a packed year with a pact of a different kind. CHC, Welsh Local Government Association and Welsh Government signed a Housing Supply Pact committing to work together to build 13,500 affordable homes and deliver services up and down Wales. The Cabinet Secretary also brought an additional Christmas present in the shape of more grant to fund those homes we have been calling for.
So now to our New Year’s resolutions and commitments. Whilst most of us commit to getting into shape, as a sector we are already pretty fit. Our latest research showed that in 2015/16 housing associations ploughed over a billion pounds into the Welsh economy, with almost 90p in every pound staying in Wales.
My New Year’s resolution therefore is to help tell that story loudly and to work with housing associations to think about the future. Who will we house, what services will we provide and how will we support those in need in 20 years’ time? These are big and exciting questions to brighten a long Welsh winter.
Clarissa Corbisiero-Peters is deputy chief executive of Community Housing Cymru