Speaking in today’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, North Wales MS and Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning, Mark Isherwood, criticised the Labour Welsh Government for failing to tackle the affordable housing supply crisis they were warned about two decades ago.
Responding to the Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Local Government and Planning, ‘Working with Local Government to Deliver more Affordable Homes’, Mr Isherwood expressed concern that only 5,720 homes have been delivered on average annually in Wales between 2010 and December 2023, barely half the rate delivered in England and an annual average of just 940 affordable homes over the same period.
He said:
“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, but they were ignored.
“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, barely half the rate delivered in England and an annual average of just 940 social homes over the same period.
“Why, despite all the warning and reports, has the Welsh Government continued to under-deliver so spectacularly, further exacerbating the affordable housing supply crisis which they created in Wales during their first three terms?”
Mr Isherwood also expressed concern that the Welsh Government is failing to meet its target to deliver 20,000 new low carbon homes for social rent during this 5-year Senedd term, with only 2,825 new dwellings completed by Registered Social Landlords and Local Authorities in the first three years to last December, and referred to the difficulties people are experiencing trying to get on the property ladder.
He said:
“In 2022, average full-time employees in Wales needed to spend over 6 times their earnings to purchase a home. This compares with just 3 times average earnings in 1997. Further, Welsh pay packets are now the lowest in the UK nations.
“What discussion has the Cabinet Secretary therefore had with Cabinet colleagues about the impact of the Welsh Government’s economic policies on the affordability of houses in Wales?”
Mr Isherwood also questioned the Cabinet Secretary over actions to bring empty properties back into use, and over private rentals and the fact landlords are leaving the sector because of Welsh Government legislation.
He said:
“In the Welsh Government’s Evaluation Phase 1 report of the Renting Home Act 2016, released last week, consequences identified by participants included: Private landlords choosing to leave the sector, exacerbating existing property shortages; that losing private landlords would mean fewer are prepared to partner with local authorities to provide much-needed properties; Rent increases for tenants and fewer properties being available; and Private landlords cherry-picking the best tenants.
“So, what assurance, if any, can you give to the participants in your Evaluation that you will reopen the legislation and deal with the issues that the Sector and I warned you about during the preceding Bill’s legislative process?”
He also questioned the Cabinet Secretary over the Ukrainian refugees who are now facing the real prospect of homelessness and asked how the Welsh Government will work with local authorities to deliver more affordable homes for Ukrainian refugees in Wales.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Isherwood said:
“I regret that the Cabinet Secretary focused primarily on questions I didn’t ask rather than those I did and that she reprised her practice of dismissing inconvenient facts. She shares direct responsibility for Labour’s affordable housing supply crisis in Wales”.