Plaid Cymru’s win in the Senedd election was a monumental moment for Welsh politics. For the first time since devolution, Labour lost power. WHQ asks prominent figures in the housing sector about their hopes and fears for housing under a Plaid Government.
Credit: Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru
Mabli Siriol Jones, Head of Policy (Poverty), Bevan Foundation
The Bevan Foundation believes that Wales’s housing crisis cannot be solved without significantly, and rapidly, increasing the supply of social homes in Wales. While the new Government’s target of 20,000 new social homes by 2030 is highly ambitious (given the previous government’s difficulties in meeting the same target in a five-year period) we believe that it is deliverable with the right actions, and the role of Unnos as a national development body for social housing will be key to this.
Crucially, given the rising costs and practical difficulties in building from new, we believe there should be a focus on bringing more of our existing housing stock into use as social homes, via buy-backs of ex-council houses, purchasing on the open market and utilising empty dwellings and buildings.
Making this happen at the scale that’s needed however will require a more pragmatic approach to social housing standards. As well as increasing the supply of social homes, issues in the private rented sector such as high rents, insecure tenancies and poor conditions also need to be tackled. The intention to explore rent controls is welcome, but the Government must ensure that the model adopted is one that works for Wales, and is accompanied by stronger protections for renters, including a ban on no-fault evictions.
The Bevan Foundation was pleased to see the focus on housing in Plaid Cymru’s manifesto, as well as in other parties’ pledges ahead of the election. With the realities of minority government, cooperation in the Senedd will be key, and we hope that housing is an area where agreement can be reached to take the steps needed to ensure that everyone in Wales has a suitable place to call home.
Rhea Stevens, Head of Policy and External Affairs, Community Housing Cymru
The new Welsh Government has an opportunity to move Wales from housing emergency to housing recovery: building more homes, improving existing homes and creating healthier, fairer places.
The Plaid Cymru manifesto recognises housing is Wales’ primary prevention infrastructure. Housing Associations stand ready to deliver, having built 75% of new social homes last term, with affordable housing delivery up 35% since 2021. Research indicates that 20,000 new social homes would create more than 14,000 jobs, 2,000 apprenticeships and deliver significant savings to the NHS and public services by keeping people healthier and out of temporary accommodation.
The challenge is not whether we can end the housing emergency, it is not inevitable, but rather how to sustain our momentum. Amid rising needs and constrained finances, we must prioritise actions that make the greatest difference.
Maintaining progress requires certainty and stability. We need a long-term strategic plan that positions housing as essential national infrastructure, central to social and economic renewal. Legislating for the right to adequate housing can allow us to define the housing system Wales needs and deserves, while empowering Unnos could accelerate development and boost local economies. Both key ingredients but neither alone provide the joined-up and systematic plan that charts our course to recovery.
To move into a housing recovery we need to shift towards a long-term strategic plan that treats housing as essential national prevention infrastructure and is placed at the heart of Government’s plans for social and economic renewal.
Now is the time to make choices that shape Wales’ future.
Katie Dalton, Director, Cymorth Cymru
At Plaid Cymru’s conference in February, I was struck by the excitement buzzing around the venue. However, there were also some serious expressions on the faces of those expected to fill Cabinet positions. Countless challenges await this new Government, not least the need to tackle homelessness, with 10,600 people in temporary accommodation and 94,000 households on social housing waiting lists.
One of the big tasks for the new Cabinet Minister is implementation of the Homelessness Act. As someone who played a key role in its legislative journey, Siân Gwenllian understands the challenges of implementation, but also the huge opportunities if we get this right.
Plaid’s pledge to deliver at least 20,000 new social homes will also be critical, but this target was a stretch for the last government, despite record investment, so financial and policy levers will need to be maximised. And providing people with the right support is equally important as putting a roof over someone’s head, so we welcome Plaid’s commitment to a Housing First, trauma-informed and person-centred approach. The first test of this will be increased funding for the Housing Support and Homelessness Prevention Grants.
Fair work was also a Plaid manifesto commitment, and the Workforce Task and Finish Group report is on the Minister’s desk, with important recommendations to improve pay and support for frontline workers. It’s time to ensure they get the recognition and reward they deserve.
The new Government also has an opportunity to make inclusion health a priority, and improve health outcomes for marginalised groups. Let’s act to change the appalling statistic that people experiencing homelessness die 30 years earlier than the general population.
Keith Edwards, Housing Lead, Foundational Economy Alliance
Since devolution Wales has had a number of major housing successes it can point to. The £5bn-plus investment in Welsh Housing Quality Standard and the additional money consistently invested in new social housing are stand outs for me. The positive impacts both have had on health and wellbeing, local jobs and the wider foundational economy are clear.
But let’s be honest. There are also many examples of “government by proclamation” – passing laws and introducing strategies without the resources to deliver. “Let it be so” is simply not enough.
Take homelessness. We have had half a dozen strategies to end it in the past 27 years. Yet in October 2025 10,818 people were still living in temporary accommodation across Wales, 2,503 of whom were children.
The ambitions of the new Plaid Cymru administration are laudable, particularly their commitment that “everybody in Wales should have the right to a safe home at a cost they can afford”. And there is other good stuff in their programme too around action on rent affordability as well as fuel poverty through better quality housing.
My hope is that Plaid will learn from the past. The key to not over promising and under delivering is resources. We know in the long-term investing in good quality homes pays itself back, and some. If we want to achieve grand and noble ambitions, it’s time for significantly more upfront funding to make a decent home for all a reality.
Steve Bletsoe, Head of Regional Business, National Residential Landlords Association
Plenty of ink has been spilled by pundits eager to drill down into what the outcome of the Senedd elections will mean for Welsh housing. But what does the vote mean specifically for Welsh private landlords?
At the top of any landlords’ list of concerns linked to Plaid’s reforms is rent controls. The suggestion that Plaid will introduce them to the Welsh private rented sector (PRS) presents a major problem for those landlords keen to stay in the rental market.
We await further detail at the time of writing on what the new Welsh Government’s proposals will look like in practice. But the party’s manifesto suggests a strong commitment to intervene in the market in a way that could worsen the Welsh PRS’ supply and demand crisis.
Those with an interest in the PRS need not look far for an example of rent controls going wrong. Research by Hamptons found that, after the introduction of controls in Scotland, 67% of Scottish landlords increased rents in 2025 – a common outcome wherever rent controls are introduced.
Before any firm strategy can be drawn up, the Welsh Government needs the ability to make decisions based on an accurate assessment of the Welsh market. Launching a Welsh Housing Survey – similar in scope to its English equivalent – must be a priority for the new administration, and the NRLA will be pushing hard to make that happen.
In terms of next steps, 2026 will likely usher in big changes in the PRS across the UK. Whatever form these take, the Welsh Government must encourage the growth of a rental market that is fair and which works in the interests of both landlords and tenants.
Ruth Power, Chief Executive, Shelter Cymru
Shelter Cymru was pleased to see Plaid Cymru make housing a central part of their manifesto, and for the recognition they have given to suitable homes being pivotal to tackling the persistent challenges of health, poverty and inequality in Wales.
Last year, Shelter Cymru provided advice and advocacy to more than 12,000 households in Wales, almost half of which were private renters, a share of our caseload that has been consistent for a number of years. Despite this, and despite the clear issues with affordability, security of tenure and quality that are pervasive within private renting, our housing system continues to often view it as a solution to homelessness rather than a cause.
In reality, the private rented sector in Wales has long ceased to be fit for purpose in its current form. Which is why we were also pleased to see the Plaid Cymru manifesto commit to much needed changes. Not least the end of no-fault evictions and introduction of rent controls.
On their own these changes are, of course, not a total solution to the housing emergency, but we do believe they have a role to play as part of a wider package that includes legislating for a right to adequate housing, expanding the delivery of social rent homes and implementing the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocations Act. This is why we urge the new Cabinet Minister to urgently bring together organisations that work closely with private renters, and private renters themselves, to begin the shift from commitment to delivery.
Alicja Zalesinska, Chief Executive, Tai Pawb
The formation of a new Welsh Government marks an important moment for housing in Wales. For Tai Pawb, the question now is how this new political chapter can help build the foundations of a fairer, healthier and more cohesive nation.
Homes must sit at the heart of that work. Across Wales, too many people are working hard simply to stand still: disabled people waiting years for an accessible home; children growing up in cold, damp or overcrowded housing; people living in temporary accommodation or facing homelessness, trying to hold on to dignity, safety and hope while waiting for a settled home; and communities anxious about whether young people can remain rooted in the places they call home.
That is why Tai Pawb welcomes commitments on standards, tenants’ rights, damp and mould, warmer homes, community ownership, social housing delivery, homelessness prevention and the right to a good home. For Tai Pawb, the Right to a Good Home is our central priority and should be the framework that brings these ambitions together: a way of driving the whole housing system towards homes that are affordable, accessible, safe, secure and suitable for the diversity of people’s lives. It also gives Wales a clear, shared principle for resisting narratives that use housing insecurity to divide communities or scapegoat people seeking safety, stability and belonging.
Our hope is that the new Government treats housing not only as supply or infrastructure, but as the foundation for health, dignity, equality and belonging. Success should be measured not only in numbers, but in whether homes are genuinely affordable, accessible, secure, energy efficient and suitable for the diversity of people’s lives.
Tai Pawb will continue to play our part: supporting, convening and, where needed, challenging, so that Wales builds not only more homes, but stronger foundations for dignity, equality and belonging.
Kieron Gregson, Associate Development Director (South), Lovell Strategic Land
As Plaid Cymru forms a new government in Wales, the party is tasked with shifting the trajectory of housing delivery in the country. As a strategic land developer, my hope is that the party realises the answer to building more homes alongside meeting the requisite need over the next decade lies in unlocking more deliverable land in the short, medium and long-term. Therefore, looking afresh at spatial planning is one of the main levers the government can pull to unlock this land.
Of course, Siân Gwenllian needs to get her feet under the desk, but the first step to take – in my mind – is to review the three-tier planning system and consider if Strategic Development Plans (SDPs) are doing the job they should be doing.
There would be merit in consolidating SDPs to cover smaller areas – more similar to Spatial Development Strategies (SDSs) in England – to make them more deliverable and speed things up. These plans should also be reviewed regularly and adapted to suit local needs. There should be scope to deliver housing outside of the plans if the demand is there and a suitable site is presented in accordance with planning policy.
The Housing Minister has said tackling the housing crisis requires “urgency, energy and action”. What’s next is to ensure she and the government focuses this rhetoric where it’s needed most.
Of course, the land it unlocks needs to be the right land. Against the backdrop of growing waiting lists for social housing and a gap between supply and demand, the Government has promised to build 20,000 social homes in just three years. To drive this pledge forward, Plaid has set up a national development agency – Unnos – to identify suitable sites for social homes.
This is a welcome move for the development industry which understands the critical link between strategic land and social housing. The more housing development consented and delivered, the more social housing can be built by the private sector. Unnos should work with us to ensure the sites it identifies are deliverable by being suitable, available, achievable and viable.
Emma Nicholas, Co-ordinator National Independent Tenant Voice Cymru
NITVC Tenants are fully committed to working with the new Welsh Government and helping them achieve their housing ambitions.
We know that they and their landlord partners face tough choices including how they find the money to build new homes and provide good services to their current tenants. Tenants are realistic about this, so it’s important that our wants and needs, and the impacts on us, are considered before difficult decisions are made.
We were never asked about new housing standards and, if we had been, we would have challenged several of them. We want to be fully included in any future reviews.
We want help for communities by reviewing the process of housing allocations. This would mean, for example, sensitive lettings especially for one-bedroom properties.
We want a long-term approach to investing in homes and no more “sticking plasters” that cost a lot more than sorting things correctly the first time.
We want real involvement with our landlords, not just lip service. That means more tenant-led scrutiny.
We want value for money to be replaced by value for tenants and warm homes to be replaced by comfortable homes.
However well-intentioned landlords and support organisations are, they can’t speak for tenants. So, most of all we want recognition that tenants need to have their independent voices heard at all levels.