![“Whole Housing Sector Approach Needed to Tackle the Housing Crisis in Wales”](/sites/www.markisherwood.co.uk/files/styles/gallery_large/public/news-gallery/houses_0.jpg?itok=E4ySerE9)
Speaking at yesterday’s Policy Forum for Wales Seminar, ‘Priorities for Housing in Wales’, Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning and North Wales MS Mark Isherwood, who Chaired the second session of the Seminar, said house prices in Wales are becoming increasingly unaffordable, demand for rental properties is outstripping supply, and house building targets are not being met.
He criticised the Labour Welsh Government for ignoring repeated warnings of a housing crisis from the sector over two decades and said only a whole housing sector approach will tackle it.
He said:
“‘On virtually every measure, Wales is in the midst of a housing crisis’ – not my words, but those of the Director of the Bevan Foundation, Victoria Winkler.
“It is now two decades since the sector first launched the ‘Homes for All Cymru’ Campaign, warning that Wales faced an affordable Housing supply crisis unless urgent action was taken.
“The 2012 UK Housing Review stated ‘it was the Welsh Government itself that gave housing lower priority in its overall budgets, so that by 2009/10 it had by far the lowest proportional level of housing expenditure of any of the four UK countries’.
“The Holman report, and reports from the house building industry, the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Bevan Foundation, and the Federation of Master Builders, all said that Wales needed between 12,000 and 15,000 homes a year, including 5,000 social homes.
“Even more modest forecasts identified a need for up to 8,300 new homes a year. However, only 5,720 homes have been delivered on average annually in Wales between 2010 and December 2023.”
He added:
“House prices in Wales are becoming increasingly unaffordable.
“In 2022, average full-time employees in Wales needed to spend over 6 times their earnings on purchasing a home. This compares with just 3 times average earnings in 1997 and, according to HM Land Registry, the average price of a property in Wales was £211,000 in April 2024.
“Office for National Statistics figures show that private rental prices in Wales increased by 7.1 per cent in the 12 months to December 2023 – the highest increase of all the countries in Great Britain.
“Further, according to ONS figures there are 120,450 unoccupied dwellings in Wales, with 103,000 of these truly vacant unoccupied dwellings and about only 15% identified as Second Homes.
“At an estimated 7%, Wales has a higher proportion of homes classed as ‘truly vacant’ than every English region apart from London.
“In January 2023, the Minister announced a new £50m National Empty Homes Grant Scheme over the next two years, aiming to bring 2,000 long-term empty properties back into use. However, the £50 million allocated has since been ‘cut’.”
He added:
“As of 31st March 2023, the Social Housing sector had around 239,000 properties in its stock, the smallest part of the housing sector in Wales, with the Private Rented Sector slightly larger at 17% of households and owner occupied homes representing 2/3rds of the housing sector in Wales.
“However, the National Residential Landlords Association has warned that although demand is outstripping supply, a growing numbers of Landlords in Wales are planning to cut the number of properties they rent out.”
“The Welsh Government set a target of delivering 20,000 new low carbon homes for social rent during the 2021 to 2026 Senedd term. However, only 2,825 new dwellings were completed by Registered Social Landlords and Local Authorities in the first three years to last December.
“Simply put, not enough homes are being built, meaning that supply isn’t meeting demand, driving house prices, rents and waiting lists up.
“As the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru stated in their recent written submission to the Senedd’s Local Government and Housing Committee’s Inquiry into ‘Social housing supply’:
“We are in the midst of a housing crisis, yet our analysis of the 2023/24 budget expenditure lines shows that around 4.6 per cent of the total budget is being spent on housing, which CIH Cymru does not believe reflects the seriousness of the housing crisis that we are currently navigating as a nation”.
He added:
“No singular initiative will be able to solve the Housing Crisis in Wales and only a whole Housing sector approach can deliver the a mix of high quality housing that people need, recognising the vital role of the social and private rented sectors, housing developers and housing support providers in housing provision.”