Welsh Housing Policy: What a month!

June was quite a month for housing policy in Wales (and, apologies – I was away last week on a/l).  We had an oral statement from Sian Gwenllian which set out the housing policy priorities, including what she called “fair rents” – note, not controlled rents.  As she said, subsequently,

“making rents fairer is one of my key priorities. I’m committed to delivering stronger rights and protections in the private rented sector, so tenants are better protected from unfair practices and have greater security, stability and confidence in their homes. So, I do intend to bring forward legislation in this Senedd term to improve housing affordability. I’m actively looking at different measures for fair rents that have been operating in other countries, such as Scotland.”

Earlier in the day Rhun ap Iorwerth had made the same point that “Fair rent is at the core of our housing policy” – so, the shift to fair rent does not appear to be a slip of the tongue.  This may be an important softening of the commitment to control rents to an CPI/wage growth in the manifesto (or, perhaps, an more unlikely, a mere misuse of words).

On the right to adequate housing, as Ms Gwenllian put it,

“Housing policy in Wales will realise this right progressively, focusing on addressing homelessness, ensuring housing costs better reflect local incomes, supporting community ownership, promoting the Welsh language and culture, and helping young people to remain in their communities.”

She spoke about renewing the relationship with local authorities.  She said that she is “not going to be a Minister who tries to compel or force anything on local government. It has to be a partnership”.

One can see the commitment to social housing more generally by the addition of £20 million to this year’s social housing grant budget.  A lot of store is being placed in the ability of Unnos, a housing “enabler”, to facilitate new housing development.

The other really important point made during the discussion on the statement – which was more illuminating than the statement – was that she is looking at local authorities being able to issue financial penalties against landlords (229).  I’ve been banging on about this for a while, so I feel a little vindicated.  Basically, we need better and more consistent enforcement of housing standards and regulation in Wales across the board.

It was also great in the following week to hear Rhun ap Iorwerth and Sian Gwenllian take on the Reform nonsense about housing shortages and HMOs respectively.  This seems to be the Reform line of attack at the moment, linking housing shortages and HMOs with their views about immigration.  As Sian Gwenllian notably put it, “it’s not immigration that is causing the housing crisis, it’s not asylum seekers that are causing the housing crisis”.  And Rhun ap Iorwerth said, “housing shortages are not driven by immigration”.  I loved those strong put downs.  Thank you.

There is a recognition that Wales is now behind England on housing and it’s great to see that being recognised such that it becomes a priority.  As Rhun ap Iorwerth put it:

“It is the truth now that we are lagging behind England when it comes to protection for renters, and that’s something that we will move at pace to put right.”