Senedd committee warns Wales social housing system “in crisis” despite target progress
A Senedd committee has warned that Wales’s social housing system is “in crisis” even as projections suggest the Welsh Government may hit its 20,000 new social homes target ahead of schedule.
The Local Government and Housing Committee published its follow-up to a 2024 inquiry on social housing supply on Wednesday.
Projections suggest the 20,000 target will be met by the end of the 2026 calendar year, earlier than the original Senedd-term deadline, with delivery at its highest level since at least 2007.
But the committee heard this may be down to what witnesses described as “an unsustainable level” of resource input.
Audit Wales has warned of the risk of a drop in delivery at the start of the coming Senedd term.
The committee noted that delivery dropped by 26% at the start of the current term and has written to Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government Jayne Bryant MS asking whether a similar drop is expected again.
It has also raised concerns about updated estimates of annual housing need in Wales, which the committee said are “underpinned by an imperfect methodology” and exclude rough sleeping, hidden homelessness, and people living in unsuitable accommodation.
The committee said these figures “should not be taken as an indicator of how much additional social housing Wales needs.”
It renewed its call for social housing to make up at least 20% of total housing stock in Wales, compared with the current 16%.
The Welsh Government had previously accepted that recommendation in principle.
The committee also renewed its call for a national development corporation for Wales, an arm’s-length body that could manage land assets, overcome planning blockages, and work across Senedd terms.
The Welsh Government previously rejected that recommendation, but the committee said most witnesses to the follow-up inquiry argued it remained necessary.
The letter to Ms Bryant also asks for an update on what more could be done to stop developers renegotiating section 106 planning agreements to reduce affordable housing contributions they had previously agreed to deliver.
The committee said action was needed to “send a clear message to developers and the land market” that section 106 costs should be factored into what they pay for land.
Ms Bryant was asked to respond to the committee’s letter.
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