A whole market approach to tackling the housing supply crisis in Wales?
Having previously worked in a building society and sat on the board of a housing association, I came to the Assembly in 2003 concerned that housing had slipped down the league table of Government priorities.
A 2004 Welsh Consumer Council Report stated ‘Unless house-building and renovation of existing homes is stepped up, Wales could face a housing crisis in coming years’.
Witnesses to the 2012 Assembly Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee Report into the provision of affordable housing in Wales stated ‘the housing crisis is with us now’ and called for a ‘whole-market’ approach. The Assembly Communities and Culture Committee Report on the Private Rented Housing Sector recommended that: ‘the Welsh Government actively seeks to promote a positive public image of the private rented sector as a tenure of choice in Wales’.
The National Landlords Association, which has taken the lead on social letting agencies and landlord accreditation, have told me that there is a Tsunami coming and that the Welsh Government must work with them to do something quickly or face even more homelessness.
Welsh Conservatives welcome the £4 million Welsh Government Revenue Grant to support affordable housing provision, expected to lever in £100 million, but clarity over funding product and urgent implementation are needed.
With an estimated 22,000 empty homes across Wales, we support the national Houses into Homes programme. We also welcome the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, but regret that this was announced a full year after equivalent schemes were launched in Scotland and England. Wales needs a low cost homeownership scheme. The UK Government has announced FirstBuy funding for 26,500 first-time buyers in England, but the Welsh Government supported just 33 people to purchase homes under its Homebuy scheme last year.
House building in Wales is at its lowest level since the Second World War. The European Commission has recommended that four EU states amend their housing policies, including the UK – and therefore Wales, saying that we should implement a comprehensive housing reform programme to increase supply and alleviate affordability within the period 2012/13.
However, the Group Chair of a North Wales-based construction company told me that building homes in Wales is no longer profitable and that, unlike the Welsh Government, they cannot continue to spend money unless the end product at least covers the cost.
As the Home Builders Federation have argued, by increasing overall supply, more housing will be made affordable to more people.
Mark Isherwood AM, Shadow Minister for North Wales, Social Justice & Housing