Minister takes action to protect Wales’ social housing stock

22 Jan 2015 02:05 PM

New measures to protect Wales’ social housing stock have been put forward by the Welsh Government recently (Thursday 22 January).

Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister, Lesley Griffiths, has published a White Paper setting out the Welsh Government’s intention to end Right to Buy and Right to Acquire.

The Right to Buy and Right to Acquire allows eligible social housing tenants to buy their council or housing association home at a discount of up to £16,000.

Over the past 30 years, the policy has resulted in a significant reduction in social housing stock. Between 1981 and 2014, 138,423 council homes were sold – this is a 45% reduction in the social housing available when the policy was first introduced. 

The Minister has also set out plans recently (Thursday 22 January) to halve the current maximum discount from £16,000 to £8,000.

Lesley Griffiths said:

“Many families depend on social housing for a safe, secure and affordable place to live.

“Our supply of homes is under considerable pressure and we are still seeing social rented properties being taken out of our social housing stock because of the Right to Buy, which is forcing many vulnerable people to wait longer for a home. This is why decisive action is needed to protect our social housing to make sure it is available for those who need it most.”

The Housing (Wales) Measure 2011 allows local authorities to apply for permission to suspend the Right to Buy and Right to Acquire locally to help tackle housing pressures. Carmarthenshire Council was the first local authority to ask the Welsh Government to suspend of Right to Buy and, recently (Thursday 22 January), the Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister, Lesley Griffiths, approved Carmarthenshire’s application.

Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, Cllr Kevin Madge, said:

“We very much welcome this decision by the Minister, which will help alleviate the demand on our housing register and support our vision to make more good quality homes available for local people.

“We also welcome other measures that Welsh Government is seeking to introduce to further protect much needed affordable housing across Wales, and we are very proud that here in Carmarthenshire we are leading the way.”

Cllr Dyfed Edwards, Welsh Local Government Association spokesperson for Housing said:

“With many thousands of people currently on housing waiting lists, and at a time of acute shortages of affordable homes, the proposal from Welsh Government to abolish the Right To Buy scheme is a welcome step in tackling a growing problem in Wales.

“Despite the considerable efforts that local councils and housing associations are making to increase the overall supply of social housing by building new homes, housing provision continues to struggle to meet the rising level of housing need in Wales. The loss of properties through the Right To Buy has worsened this situation and has, in some circumstances, acted as a considerable disincentive for further housing development. Ending the Right to Buy scheme will help ensure that local councils and their wider housing sector partners can begin to meet housing demand and offer people access to affordable housing more quickly and effectively in the future.”

The Minister added:

“We are taking action to protect Wales’ social housing stock – as well as moving to end Right to Buy. During this term of Government, we are investing over £400 million in affordable homes through our Social Housing Grant programme. Since 2011, 6,890 additional affordable homes have been delivered across Wales, while we are just 529 short of our target of bringing 5,000 empty homes back into use this Assembly term.”

The White Paper consultation seeks the public’s views on the proposals. The consultation will close on 16 April 2015.

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