The Welsh Government had promised to deliver 20,000 social homes in Wales by next year
More than 170,000 people in Wales including 45,000 children are waiting for homes in Wales. A leading housing charity says the numbers show a “critical shortage” of social homes in Wales.
Shelter Cymru says last year only 2,600 social homes were delivered across Wales last year and that it would take 35 years to build the homes needed by 94,000 households on waiting lists. The Welsh Government has a target of 20,000 homes being built by the end of 2026. As of March 2024, the Welsh Government was less than halfway towards reaching its target to build 20,000 new low carbon social homes for rent between 2021 and 2026. It has since said that it counts some homes that are not new builds and that are not low carbon.
The then-housing minister had said in June 2024 that Welsh Government was “hanging on” to meeting that target.
Shelter Cymru has sent Freedom of Information requests to each of Wales’ 22 councils which shows the highest number of households waiting is in Newport. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
Their data shows over half of households waiting for a social home are waiting for a one-bedroom home.
It also shows single-parent families are disproportionately represented on waiting lists for a social home. For children this can have a devastating impact with some trapped in temporary accommodation while others have to live with the daily challenges of homes that are overcrowded, unaffordable, and in some cases filled with damp and mould.
The breakdown per council of total number of households on waiting lists:
Blaenau Gwent: 2,768
Bridgend: 2,686
Caerphilly : 6,113
Cardiff: 9,015
Carmarthenshire: 5,195
Ceredigion: 2,031
Conwy: 1,752
Denbighshire: 1,887
Flintshire: 2,032
Gwynedd: 2,394
Isle of Anglesey: 824
Merthyr Tydfil: 2,224
Monmouthshire: 3,766
Neath Port Talbot: 4,370
Newport: 12,456
Pembrokeshire: 5,027
Powys: 4,392
Rhondda Cynon Taf: 4,395
Swansea: 7,938
Torfaen: 2,965
Vale of Glamorgan: 6,853
Wrexham: 2,946
One person impacted, who the charity has called Louise, said, she and her two children were made homeless after accruing building rent arrears. She said: “It’s horrendous because you’re living in limbo.
“You live a completely different life because you don’t know what’s next. All I want is somewhere permanent so I can get my life back to normal, so I can get a job again. But it’s just the waiting. We’re not able to make plans. We’re stuck here. You can’t think about planning your future.”
Shelter Cymru’s chief executive Ruth Power said: “These new figures are a wake-up call. It is unacceptable that more than 94,000 households are forced to wait years for a place they can call home. We must confront the reality that as a nation we are failing to meet the needs of our communities.
“Investing in social homes is a moral obligation; it is an investment in a stable foundation for people’s lives, health and futures but it’s also a practical solution to a pressing problem.
“If we don’t deliver more social homes, it will ramp up the financial pressures on local authorities that are already struggling to cope with local demand for social homes.
“We need to step up our response to the housing emergency in Wales and increase investment to ensure that everyone has access to the basic foundations of a settled home they can afford.”
Shelter Cymru has asked the Welsh Government for more investment to deliver the required number of social homes and a “clear strategy” for the range of measures that will be taken to ensure the homes we need are delivered quickly enough.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We’re doing everything we can to increase the supply of social housing, and despite unprecedented economic challenges, we’ve committed to a record investment of just under £2bn by the end of this Senedd term.”
