Dear Minister
Keith Edwards writes an open letter to the new Minister for Housing on the challenges and opportunities ahead
Dear Minister
You will have already noticed that housing is full of people passionate about the work we do, yet also slightly miffed that we can’t always get others to see the world through the same lens as us. So it was with genuine enthusiasm that we heard of your appointment and that your post was have full Cabinet status as this was something CIH Cymru members asked all parties to consider in the run up to the election. We know you’ll be taking the opportunity to be briefed on the housing world by officials and no doubt there’ll be a fair amount of lobbying from the many and various organisations that make up the Welsh housing family too.
CIH Cymru has members across all housing sectors and at all levels. This unique position allows us to take a broad, joined-up approach. It’s true, as you’d expect, that we have a strong bias toward housing. But that bias is based on hard evidence that, if you get housing right, you can have a hugely positive impact on health and well being and the educational attainment of children, as well as helping to create vibrant local economies. It also explains why we have campaigned for housing-led regeneration for over five years and were amongst the first to welcome the joining up of housing and regeneration under one Minister.
Although we have to admit that, as a sector, we haven’t always got things right in the past, things have moved forward significantly over the last few years. Ever since the advent of the Assembly, the progressive devolution of powers and growth in confidence in our own abilities that followed have meant that we’ve never been in better shape to deliver for the people of Wales – given a fair chance of course. As Churchill said ‘give us the tools and we will finish the job’ (in fairness, we‘re normally much more likely to quote Aneurin Bevan, a world class Minister for Housing and Health who accepted that improving both was equally important, but that’s for another day).
Our overarching perspective means that we know it’s more true now than ever that no one sector can deliver the housing and regeneration outcomes we all aspire to in isolation. The logic is compelling:
- housing associations can’t deliver more homes unless they work closely with local authority partners and the private sector
- making sure that new and existing homes are ‘more than bricks and mortar’ means engaging tenant groups in decision making and ensuring that people with support needs have access to good quality services
- stringent economic times will involve working innovatively with lenders, the private rented sector and public authorities
and none of this can happen without the right framework for partnership working and delivery put in place by the Welsh Government.
If the key to providing stable government in Wales over the next five years is consensus between parties, then housing could be an extremely useful building block. True, there were some fraught moments around the housing LCO – the shortest lived political acronym in history according to the Bevan Foundation – with the Conservatives initially opposing any changes to the right to buy. But all this melted away in the referendum vote for new powers. And, as the recently re-established Cross Party Housing Group chaired by Sandy Mewies AM showed, the degree of common understanding on issues in the last Assembly was considerable, a fact also borne out by the consistency on many themes in the manifestos of the four main parties.
The partnership between Government and the sector has strengthened over the past few years. That’s not to say that there won’t be some tough times ahead, with difficult choices to be made. CIH Cymru sees our role to both support the sector and Government to deliver and to challenge everyone – including our members – to do better in the future.
We are committed to working with you to make sure we maximise housing investment through the WHQS programme, find innovative ways of funding affordable housing and ensure proper accountability of housing providers to their tenants and local communities. We are also keen to support you in dealing with ‘difficult box’ issues by focussing on bringing empty properties into use, improving standards for low income owner occupiers and pushing up quality in the private rented sector, along with other manifesto commitments of the new Government.
Our determination to do better is not a fad. It’s hardwired into a housing community that is ambitious to achieve for the people and communities of Wales and we share that ambition with you. We look forward to working with you to deliver.
Yours sincerely
Keith Edwards
On behalf of CIH Cymru
New priorities for a new Welsh Government
Housing Pact Cymru identified five main priority areas for incoming Minister Huw Lewis:
- defining a Welsh Approach to housing policy against the backcloth of new Assembly powers
- Meeting Housing Need through joined up cross sectoral working
- Raising the Bar in terms of standards for social, owner occupier and private rented sector housing
- Putting People First and at the centre of service delivery and in terms of accountability
- maximising the Housing Advantage and our capacity to deliver so much more than bricks and mortar
Welsh Labour’s manifesto Standing up for Wales sets out the detailed actions that the party would deliver during the next Assembly term. The manifesto places a strong focus on growing the Welsh economy and delivering sustainable jobs, recognising the role that regeneration and sustainable procurement can have in this, and committing to role out the i2i Can-do Toolkit across public service providers. The five top election pledges are:
- More apprenticeships and training opportunities for young people
- Access to GP surgeries in the evenings and Saturdays
- More funding for schools
- An extra 500 Police Community Support Officers
- Double the number of children benefiting from free childcare and health visiting
The manifesto focuses on Labour’s record in Government as a platform for further change, including their action on child poverty, the environment and fuel poverty, but says that the overarching priority over the next Assembly term will be on delivery. They criticise what they call the ‘damaging and savage policies of the UK Tory Government’ under which they say Wales is being treated unfairly.
The manifesto dedicates a separate chapter to housing which begins by acknowledging the role that housing plays in health, wellbeing, education and general life chances. As well as measures to deliver new housing and improve quality across sectors, Labour highlights the role that housing investment can play in other areas and also includes a range of measures aimed at involving and engaging people in housing decision making.
Delivering new housing
- Make public land available for housing
- Increase the supply of new affordable homes through Social Housing Grant together with accessing innovative forms of finance such the Welsh Housing Partnership and housing bonds
- Introduce a new Empty Properties initiative in partnership with local authorities
- Support local authorities who wish to build new homes for rent and encourage innovation through Community Land Trusts and other new ways of providing land and funding
- Ensure that Local Development Plans and planning policy at a local level helps address the shortfall in homes
- Introduce a new Flexible Tenure initiative that will allow people to move between renting, home ownership and shared ownership as their life circumstances change
Improving housing quality
- Secure a further £1.2 billion to deliver the Welsh Housing Quality Standard for all council and housing association tenants across Wales
- Support the development of interest-free Property Appreciation Loans to allow low income homeowners to borrow to improve their properties
- Work with councils and landlords to improve housing standards and tenants rights in the Private Rented Sector
- Invest a further £50 million in the ARBED programme to increase the energy performance of our existing homes and help combat fuel poverty
Getting added value out of housing investment
- Ensure that housing investment delivers a minimum of 2,000 additional jobs and training through the i2i Can Do Toolkit and work across Assembly Government departments to embed this imaginative flexible approach to procurement in other investment programmes
- Use WHQS investment to maximise its impact on local and community economic development through imaginative procurement to promote skills development and employability
Engaging and involving people
- Promote Mutual Ownership of housing, including consideration of the ‘New Foundations’ model
- Work with social landlords to ensure they are more accountable to their tenants and local communities
- Support Tenant Participation services
- Build on the ten-year Homelessness Plan and continue to invest in vulnerable people