23 Dec 2024
Looking back: The Welsh housing landscape in 2024
Changes to the government
July 2024 saw the calling of a General Election and the election of a Labour government in Westminster. In August, the Senedd voted to appoint Eluned Morgan as first minister, the first time in 25 years of devolution that there has been a female first minister of Wales. Her key priorities for her government are:
- A healthier Wales: Cutting NHS waiting times, improving access to social care and services for women’s health
- Green jobs and growth: Creating green jobs that tackle the climate crisis and restore nature whilst making families better off; and accelerating planning decisions to grow the economy
- Opportunity for every family: Boosting standards in schools and colleges, providing more homes for social rent, ensuring every family has the chance to succeed
- Connecting communities: Transforming our railways and delivering a better bus network, fixing our roads, and empowering communities to make choices on the 20mph speed limit.
Whilst it was encouraging to see more homes for social rent included in the first ministers priorities for the government it was disappointing there was no mention of tackling the rising levels of homelessness or looking at how we can end the housing crisis in Wales.
Budget
The Welsh government published their draft budget for 2025/26 on 10 December 2024. The budget outlined an additional £81 million for the development of social homes taking the overall social housing grant budget to £437.25 million in 2025/26.
It is however disappointing that there was just £3 million of additional funding allocated for residential decarbonisation. Our housing providers are committed to developing more homes and decarbonising our existing homes but need sufficient funding to ensure that both these ambitions can be met. Housing providers are under increasing financial pressure as highlighted in our 2024 sector snapshot:
“Record levels of investment, but there are still challenges around land availability, planning delays and rising costs of materials. Other sector pressures such as WHQS 2023 will also result in increased financial pressures on landlords. Only around 6,000 properties have been delivered since 2021 so meeting 20,000 is likely to be extremely challenging given other influencing factors.”
We know our social housing providers are committed to decarbonising existing homes, but more funding will be needed to meet this ambition.
Ongoing housing emergency
Data on homelessness published by the Welsh government in September 2024 showed that the levels of homelessness in Wales continue to rise. In 2023/24, there were 13,539 households assessed as being homeless an eight per cent increase on 2022/23 and the highest level since legislation began. The data also showed that 6,447 households were in temporary accommodation on 31 March 2024, an 18 per cent increase from 31 March 2023. The majority of these households are residing in bed and breakfasts.
The reliance on the private sector is having a significant impact on local authorities, with the spend on temporary accommodation increasing from £41 million in 2020/21 to £99 million in 2023/24.
Even though rental inflation in the private rented market is slowing high rent levels are likely to remain in many areas as the supply of private rented properties remains low. There are currently 25 per cent fewer properties available in 2024 compared to 2019. The ongoing unaffordability of the private rented market and rising levels of homelessness are continuing to put pressure on social housing waiting lists. Data collated in October 2023 through a BBC freedom of information request showed that there were 139,000 people including at least 34,000 children waiting for social housing in Wales. A year on, this number is likely to have risen.
Inquiry on social housing supply
We provided evidence to the Senedd’s local government and housing committee as part of their inquiry into social housing supply in Wales. The resulting inquiry report made a number of significant recommendations to the Welsh government reflecting the evidence CIH Cymru provided. These recommendations included:
- Looking at calculations of housing need
- Partnership working
- Increased allocation of the social housing grant
- Addressing the skills gap
- Establishing an arms-length development agency.
We also published a member exclusive briefing on the inquiry report.
White paper on housing adequacy, fair rents and affordability
In the white paper consultation, the Welsh government has proposed to develop legislation during the next Senedd term to establish a framework that will drive forward action for delivering adequate housing. This will include placing a duty on Welsh ministers to produce a housing strategy with a defined framework to address housing adequacy.
However, CIH Cymru, along with our #BacktheBill partners Tai Pawb and Shelter Cymru, believe the white paper is a missed opportunity to really turn the page on our current housing emergency. The white paper contains some positive
steps forward; However, it falls short of fundamental change and ambition which can only be delivered through hard wiring a legal commitment to providing housing as a human right. The #BacktheBill partners have published an alternative white paper on the right to adequate housing.
The Welsh government is also proposing changes to the private rented sector. This includes licence holders completing annual property condition records, a rent guarantee scheme, enabling access to private rent for households with pets, and incentives for leasing scheme Wales.
We have also produced a member exclusive briefing on the white paper.
Supporting housing professionals
In October we published a sector snapshot report looking at the experience of housing professionals in Wales. The report highlighted that many housing professionals are motivated by helping people and communities. However, housing professionals are under significant pressure due to a lack of funding, conflicting priorities and policy changes; insufficient staff resource is having a real impact on the mental health and wellbeing of housing professionals. CIH Cymru has written to the local government and housing cabinet secretary outlining the findings of the report and the need for more investment and support for the housing sector.
As part of our ongoing role of supporting the sector and promoting professionalism we have also developed a dedicated website to professionalism in Wales. This includes access to our member-exclusive toolkit that was launched at Tai 2024.
As we look ahead to 2025, we invite you to join us on this journey of professionalism. Be it, joining us as a new member, or looking at how your organisation can embed the professional development toolkit. Together we can shape the future of housing in Wales.
