01 Oct 2024
Sector snapshot report reveals a Welsh housing workforce at breaking point
Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru’s latest sector snapshot report highlights the impact of stretched budgets and expanding workload on the housing sector workforce. With many teams reporting to be at breaking point, the 2024 snapshot reflects widespread concern that the Welsh Government’s 20,000 affordable homes target won’t be met by the March 2026 deadline.
The sector snapshot report outlines the findings of a summer recess survey undertaken by CIH Cymru which sought the views of frontline housing professionals in Wales.
The survey found that although 77 per cent of housing professionals are motivated to work within the sector by a desire to help people and end homelessness, 68 per cent of local authority respondents and 39 per cent of housing association respondents said that their work was having a negative impact on their mental health.
A lack of funding, combined with increased expectations of the housing sector from the Welsh Government around supply, decarbonisation and new homelessness legislation were cited as reasons for rising workloads in housing teams, creating further pressure on already finite resources.
As a result of concerns over current levels of funding and resource, a large majority of respondents to the survey said that they lacked confidence that the Welsh Government’s 20,000 new low-carbon social homes target will be met by its own deadline of March 2026. An overwhelming 82 per cent of respondents from local authorities are not confident or unsure the target will be met.
One respondent commented: “Housing associations are stretched with decarbonisation and Welsh Housing Quality Standards 2023. Costs have increased significantly. There is a skills shortage due to a lack of historical investment in the workforce and a lack of funding to explore modern methods of construction.”
When asked in the survey what the single change could be that would improve the impact and efficacy of services, respondents agreed that an increase in funding levels to increase the supply of affordable homes would make the change the sector needed to see. This would ensure that everyone can access an affordable home and that housing professionals could provide adequate support to enable individuals and families to thrive in their homes and in their communities.
CIH Cymru has written directly to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government Jayne Bryant with the sector snapshot report findings, highlighting the critical importance of government intervention on several fronts.
Matt Dicks, national director of CIH Cymru said:
“It is encouraging to see that the majority of respondents to our survey are motivated to work in housing as they want to help people, make a difference and have a positive impact.
“But this evidence from those on the housing frontline clearly identifies a disconnect between the twin Welsh Government ambitions of ending our housing emergency and making our homes more sustainable – which is of course shared by housing professionals – and the investment and resource coming from government to deliver on those ambitions.
“We need to invest more and look beyond this political cycle – to enshrine a right to a safe, affordable and sustainable place to call home into Welsh law. That’s the mechanism through which we change the paradigm and ensure housing professionals get the tools they need to do their job.”
