Sustainable Communities

INTRODUCTION

Our rural and coastal communities are facing an unprecedented lack of affordable homes because of the increasing gap between the levels of local income and house prices to buy and to rent. Young people and families are forced to leave their communities, affecting the provision of essential services, the future of rural schools, the workforce available to local businesses and the sustainability of our Welsh-speaking communities. The appalling reduction in the number of Welsh speakers to 17.8% of the population according to the 2021 Census Is proof positive of this.

The period of the COVID pandemic showed the damaging effects of the open market at its worst e.g. ferocious competition for houses as wealthy people escaped from the cities, houses in seaside villages being bought overnight as second homes and holiday homes, private landlords evicting local tenants and letting their houses as holiday accommodation, leading to the local population’s being priced out of the housing market in their own communities.

Further evidence of this was seen as more and more people from Wales applied for social housing, experiencing homelessness and facing a precarious life in temporary accommodation. At present, it is estimated that almost 90,000 households are on social housing waiting lists and we know that 10,900 people were living in temporary accommodation at the end of July this year, including 3,350 children under the age of 16. In 2022/23 the number of households assessed to be homeless by local authorities was more than 12,500. Only 30% of these received help to successfully secure accommodation.

Urgent steps must be taken to deal with the serious economic and social inequality caused by the current housing crisis in communities across Wales.

The package of planning measures, local taxation and licensing that the Welsh Government announced in 2022 to deal with second homes and short-term holiday lets is welcome. However, by themselves they will not do much to reduce the numbers of second homes and holiday lets nor improve the ability of the local population to secure truly affordable homes.

The Welsh Government’s target to build 20,000 new social homes during its present term (2021-26) is far from being adequate. The supply of affordable homes for medium- and low-income households must be increased substantially, for rent and for purchase, by building new houses and putting more emphasis on procuring housing from the current stock.

Securing a much higher rate of homes in public and community ownership via local authorities, housing associations, community ownership enterprises and co-operative enterprises will also positively influence affordability in the wider housing market.

If we want to ensure the continuation of Welsh as a living community language, we must reject the neo-liberal economic philosophy which has been promoted by successive UK governments for over 40 years. An early example of this belief in the open market and privatising public services was introducing the Right to Buy council houses in 1981. By the time the Right to Buy was abolished in Wales in 2019, over 139,000 social homes on rent had been lost to the open market, a factor which contributed greatly to the current housing crisis.

This is why the entire housing system must be transformed to put local needs before profit and to treat houses as social assets for the benefit of all. The campaign for a Property Act is nothing less than a campaign for the future of all the communities of Wales, be they Welsh-speaking, English-speaking or multicultural.

We call on the Welsh Government to take urgent steps to deal with the housing crisis and safeguard the future of our local communities by passing a progressive Property Act during this government term. Our proposals for the measures to be included in a Property Act for Wales are below.

Download Cymdeithas' proposals for a Property Act

These calls were updated in November 2023 and can be seen above

    AIM 1: A RIGHT TO A HOME LOCALLY
Place a responsibility on Local Authorities to act on a request by local people for a home to buy, rent or via a hybrid scheme - within a reasonable distance and time.

A Property Act would:
    i. place a duty on local authorities to ensure suitable housing solutions for local people within a reasonable distance and time;
    ii. give local authorities broad discretionary powers to be resourceful in facilitating suitable housing solutions within a reasonable distance and time;
    iii. place a duty on other community housing providers - housing associations and community-owned enterprises - to assist the local authority to ensure suitable housing solutions for local people within a reasonable distance and time.

AIM 2: PLAN FOR LOCAL NEEDS
Place a responsibility on Local Authorities to co-produce regular Community Assessments in each area of the county with communities as equal partners. These would underpin housing policies, land use and public policies such as transport and education.

A Property Act would impose duties on local authorities to:
    i. produce a Community Assessment jointly with individual community councils at least every 5 years;
    ii. draw up a Local Housing Strategy that reflects the results of the Community Assessments through an investment programme of specific projects to be commissioned for each community where local needs have been identified;
    iii. amend their land use policies and housing targets in the Local Development Plan in accordance with the results of the Community Assessments in order to enable suitable solutions to local needs.

AIM 3: EMPOWER COMMUNITIES
Strengthen the rights of communities to own and control housing, land and community assets through community-led organisations. Place a duty on public bodies to dispose of or lease land and property to community-owned social enterprises.

A Property Act would introduce a Community Right to Buy empowering communities to buy and lease land and property from private and public landowners for community purposes, including community-led affordable housing initiatives.

AIM 4: PRIORITISE LOCAL PEOPLE
Create a housing and property system that meets local needs and protects communities from the effects of the free market; impose conditions on ownership and sales that give local people or community-led organisations first rights to buy or rent houses and to buy land and property in accordance with the Community Assessments.

A Property Act would:
    i. place a duty on local authorities to ensure, in communities where the Community Assessment shows unmet local needs, a moratorium on the sale of property to anyone without a local connection;
    ii. give powers to local authorities to require property sellers to advertise locally first;
    iii. place a duty on Welsh Government and local authorities to ensure that community housing providers implement letting policies that prioritise local applicants in accordance with the latest Community Assessments.

AIM 5: CONTROL THE RENTAL SECTOR
Control rent levels, housing standards and tenancy conditions to ensure quality affordable homes in the private rented and social housing sectors.

A Property Act would:
    i. amend the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 to give tenants of private landlords the right to receive Secure Contracts;
    ii. control the rents of private landlords and community landlords to ensure they are affordable for tenants on lower than median incomes.

AIM 6: SUSTAINABLE HOMES
Ensure that the existing housing stock and new homes are affordable, reduce carbon and are compatible with community needs – by adhering to the principle of sustainable development.

A Property Act would:
    i. place a duty on Welsh Government and Local Authorities to ensure that their housing and planning policies, Development Plans, Local Housing Strategies and housing investment programmes satisfy the principle of sustainable development and the well-being goals of the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015;
    ii. amend the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 by extending the duty to act in accordance with the sustainable development principle and work towards the well-being goals to include private landowners, housing developers and community housing providers.

AIM 7: INVEST IN COMMUNITIES
Enable communities to exercise their rights to own housing, land and community assets through a Community Wealth Fund. Facilitate low interest loans from a community bank, such as Banc Cambria, for local people and community led enterprises.

A Property Act would:
    i. place a duty on Welsh Government to establish and fund a Community Wealth Fund (similar to the Scottish Land Fund);
    ii. give powers to local authorities to offer loans and grants and to invest equity in community-led enterprises;
    iii. give powers to Welsh Government and local authorities to invest in a Community Bank fund for low interest loans to local people and community owned enterprises.

Download Cymdeithas yr Iaith Property Acts Proposals documnet 2022