From 2003 I campaigned with the sector warning the Welsh Government that Wales faced an affordable Housing supply crisis unless urgent action was taken.
Instead, Labour Welsh Government cut the number of new social homes by over 70 percent during the first three Assembly terms, as waiting lists mushroomed.
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".
Even last year, the highest year for UK new home registrations since 2007, the numbers in Wales fell by over 12%.
We cannot therefore support the Welsh Government amendment which pretends that the Welsh Government has had a “a long-standing commitment to the provision of good quality, affordable housing”.
The Labour amendment states that the Welsh Government will meet its 20,000 affordable homes target by the end of this Senedd term, but fails to mention that although independent reports state that Wales needs 20,000 social homes over a Senedd term, their target includes social rent, intermediate rent, low cost home ownership and anything else they can squeeze in.
Hence our amendment calling for clarification of what constitutes an affordable home.
I do welcome the Labour amendment’s call “on the Welsh Government to undertake an evidenced, thorough review of second home ownership in Wales and the measures that might be necessary to ensure the needs of individuals, communities and the economy, in particular the visitor economy”.
However, as our amendment states, this must include working “with the tourism sector and the Valuation Office Agency to establish an evidence base for policy regarding eligibility for self-catering accommodation to be recorded on the non-domestic rating list”.
Past Welsh Government proposals to change the qualifying criteria for self-catering accommodation generated widespread concern amongst trade bodies, including the Wales Association of Self Catering Operators and Wales Tourism Alliance Members.
The subsquent Non-Domestic Rating (Wales) Order 2010 stated that to qualify as self-catering accommodation, a dwelling must be available to let for at least 140 days in a 12-month period and actually let for at least 70 days.
The Order was revised and strengthened in 2016. The qualification periods were retained, reflecting the public consultation responses.
As the 2019 Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee Report on “Empty Properties” states, “the criteria for self-catering accommodation strikes a balance,” where:
- Dwellings which meet the criteria may be recorded on the non-domestic rating list.
- For a property to be defined as self-catering accommodation, the owner must provide evidence to the independent Valuation Office Agency that the property meets the criteria.
- If a local authority believes a property should instead be listed for council tax and has evidence of this, it is obliged to share such information with the Agency .
After the Welsh Government announced tighter business grant eligibility criteria for holiday let businesses in April, I was contacted by large numbers of concerned owners stating, for example:
“They already know which businesses pay business rates and who pays council tax. Those on business rates should automatically have received the grant”.
I thank Gwynedd, Anglesey and Conwy Councils for using their discretionary powers to ultimately give grants to each of these.
Only Flintshire is still insisting that the Welsh Government requires Local Authorities to withhold the grant from legitimate businesses not meeting the revised criteria.
The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 added discretionary powers for local authorities to apply Council Tax premiums of up to 100% to second homes.
As I warned at the time, this would not generate additional supply for people who need affordable homes in their communities, that “enabling Local Authorities to charge Second Home Owners additional Council Tax would risk unintended consequences”.
As the sector has told me, this prompted many who had not known they were already eligible for small business rate relief to switch, and others to start letting out their homes to help with costs.
Most of the Second homes purchased in holiday hotspots like Abersoch were already second homes, built as second homes over more than a Century and remaining so ever since.
However, overdue action is needed to provide local affordable housing for local people, including purchasing suitable empty homes for social housing, developing homes with effective local market clauses attached and reintroducing a reformed right to buy for Council House tenants - with 100% sale receipts reinvested into new social housing, because increasing the number of households with their own affordable front door is good housing economics.
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