Group manifesto launched
‘We’re serious about sustainable communities….. Are you?’ That is the challenge the Community Housing Cymru Group will be posing at political party conferences this spring, as we launch our group manifesto for the Local Government elections in May.
We believe that an innovative approach which harnesses the potential of the not-for-profit sector in Wales will help minimise the potential damage posed by cuts to public services such as housing, care, support and regeneration. We want to see local government and the not-for-profit sector working together to improve the provision and quality of housing and to ensure services benefit communities all over Wales. CHC is calling on all local government candidates to work with the sector on three key priorities.
1 – Actions to increase and improve affordable housing
There are an estimated 26,000 long term empty private sector properties in Wales. Bringing these empty properties back is one solution that would make a real contribution to cutting the number of households currently in need. We need to encourage action and provide incentives and disincentives to ensure that empty homes are brought back into use.
2 – Actions for regeneration
Local authorities can follow the lead of the housing sector, in implementing the ‘Can Do Toolkit’ across all public service provision, which will offer more value for the ‘Welsh Pound’ and open up opportunities for small companies while supporting local employment and training opportunities as well as social enterprises in Wales.
CHC is also committed to extending Moneyline Cymru across Wales in order to support more people in financial need and to ensure that customers have access to services appropriate to their needs including basic bank accounts, money advice and affordable loans.
3 – Action for delivering better care and support
Local government can work with Care & Repair agencies to provide vulnerable older people with better services, and one gap that needs to be addressed is the availability of funding to help those whose homes are in serious disrepair. Where grant funding cannot be found, Property Appreciation Loans can provide a safety net and offer an innovative and efficient way of making the best use of public funds by giving loans rather than grants. It will require an initial funding injection, but this can then be recycled to enable sustainable funding for repairing poor housing for older people in the long term.
The Group will be launching our manifesto at the Spring Party Conference during February and March and will be running a campaign during the month of April to spread the messages to all prospective candidates and parties.