Thank you for writing to me regarding the importance of social homes, and the need to ensure that more good quality social homes are built in Wales to meet demand.

I acknowledge the concerns about the housing crisis in Wales, and the need to enable local people to access affordable homes in their community. Whilst the Welsh Labour-led Government has a target to build 20,000 affordable homes by the end of this Welsh Parliament, it has included different types of housing – and not just affordable social homes – to monitor its progress on achieving its target, which ultimately fails to meet the housing needs of people in Wales. Moreover, successive Labour and Labour-led Welsh Governments were repeatedly warned that Wales faced an affordable housing supply crisis, and I regret that appropriate action was not taken.

 I am therefore pleased to confirm that a future Welsh Conservative Government will commit to launching an ambitious programme of housebuilding. This will include working with the whole housing sector to help reach a target of 12,000 homes being built per annum during the next Welsh Parliament term, and to build 20,000 new social homes over the five-year term. A Welsh Conservative Government will also legislate to make access to adequate housing a basic human right in Wales, ensuring that housing policy focuses on those most in need and helps solve issues such as a lack of available homes.

I also believe that social housing tenants who have a goal of owning their own home should be enabled to do so. Therefore, I and my colleagues believe that the Right-to-Buy should be re-introduced in Wales on a reformed basis, mandating 100% of sales receipts to be reinvested back into new social housing, and protecting any new build social homes from sale for at least 10 years. Such an approach will increase the number of households with their own affordable front door, and is an important part of levelling-up housing across Wales, as well as good housing economics.

Furthermore, I understand the concerns that you have raised about the need for good quality housing. Currently, there is a disparity between local councils in how they enforce property standards, with some resolving a large proportion of cases, whilst others resolve a much lower proportion of cases. As such, I agree with calls to introduce a Welsh Housing Survey to provide more robust data to policy-makers on housing demand and housing standards, helping to ensure that the housing stock meets the needs of local people.

I also call on the Welsh Labour-led Government to do more to tackle fuel poverty and energy inefficiency by following the lead of the UK Conservative Government in introducing a Green Homes Grant in Wales. Such a scheme would provide homeowners – including private landlords – with vouchers to help cover the cost of certain energy efficient measures and low carbon technology installations. This would help to reduce domestic energy bills, ensure that homes are warm and more efficient, and help to reduce emissions from housing.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write to me.