Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning, and North Wales MS, Mark Isherwood, has today challenged the Labour Welsh Government over the Housing Crisis facing Wales and asked why only 2,825 new homes for social rent were completed in Wales in the first three years of this Senedd term to last December, well short of their 20,000 target for the five year term.
Questioning the Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Local Government and Planning in today’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood also asked why the latest National House Building Council (NHBC) figures show a 43 per cent drop in new homes registered in Wales, equal bottom out of 12 UK nations and regions.
He said:
“Wales has a housing crisis, and although the last UK Labour Government oversaw the lowest level of house building since the 1920s, it was the Welsh Government which by 2010 had by far the lowest proportional level of housing expenditure of any of the four UK nations.
“Subsequent successive independent reports found that Wales needs between 12,000 and 15,000 new homes a year, including 5,000 social homes, incorporating those in public and co-operative ownership. Even more modest forecasts for the Welsh Government identified a need for up to 8,300 new homes a year, but only 5,720 were delivered on average annually in Wales between 2010 and last December.
“Why, given that Welsh Housing Sector research shows a £2.30 public sector saving for every £1 spent on housing, were only 2,825 new homes for social rent completed in Wales in the first three years of this Senedd term to last December, against the Welsh Government's 20,000 target for the five-year term, and why do the latest National House Building Council figures show a 43 per cent drop in new homes registered in Wales, equal bottom out of 12 UK nations and regions?”
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Isherwood said:
“There wasn’t a Housing Supply Crisis in Wales when Conservative UK Government ended in 1997, but Labour UK Government cynically slashed funding for housing from 1997, setting in train the housing supply crisis that was to follow. Labour Welsh Government went even further from 1999.
“Added to this, although Conservative UK Government allowed Local Authorities to keep rent from properties and invest in Council House building after they came to power in in 2010, Labour Welsh Government took years before allowing Councils in Wales to do the same. In England, Housing Associations and Councils delivered more than 414,000 affordable homes between 2010 and 2023.”