Welsh Conservatives today published a series of proposals to rejuvenate the Welsh housing market by reforming the Right to Buy, tackling the blight of empty homes and introducing ambitious targets for house building.
Speaking on a visit to a new housing construction site in Caerphilly later this morning, Mark Isherwood AM, Shadow Minister for Communities & Housing, will call for a whole-market approach and announce support for:
- Cutting red tape to dramatically increase the number of houses built each year and devise realistic targets for affordable housing based on viability assessments
- Reforming the Right to Buy by introducing a ‘one for one’ initiative with a new home built for every home sold
- Tackling the blight of 32,000 empty homes in Wales by adopting a new more localised approach
The number of new homes built in Wales in 2012-13 was the lowest for over 25 years. In 1996/97, over 10,000 new homes were built, but last year, fewer than 5,500 were constructed.
The Welsh Government claims that there were 23,000 empty homes in Wales, of which, Ministers plan to bring 5,000 of them back into use by 2016.
However, figures uncovered by the Welsh Conservatives through Freedom of Information requests to local authorities, show the scale of the problem is far greater than Labour Ministers realise, with 32,000 empty homes as of June 2013.
Under the Welsh Conservative plans, the revenue from Right to Buy house sales would be reinvested in building even more affordable homes. The Right to Buy would enable more people to buy their own home, but housing stock would be replenished through a ‘one for one’ policy.
Mark Isherwood said, “These proposals set out a bold vision to increase the supply of housing to meet future demand by building more homes, replenishing supply through the Right to Buy and bringing empty homes back into use.
“Under successive Welsh Labour governments, housing has not been given the priority it deserves and the number of new homes being built is at its lowest level in over 25 years.
“Welsh Conservatives want to dramatically increase the supply of new and affordable housing across Wales by reversing the decline in house building under Labour.
“The Right to Buy remains a popular and iconic policy, which remains relevant and necessary in 21st century Wales, but introducing a ‘one for one’ policy to replace housing stock and reinvesting in homes will make the Right to Buy available to a new generation.
“Figures show 86% of people want to own their own home, but in some areas, gaining a foot on the housing ladder is only possible for young people with wealthy parents, which simply isn’t fair.
“We want to make the option of buying your own home more accessible to empower young people and make it less likely that people will be priced out of their own community.
“Under Labour, not enough houses are being brought back into use and our research shows that Ministers have vastly under-estimated the scale of the problem of empty homes and the impact this has on housing supply.
“As the Welsh Government prepares its housing bill, Welsh Conservatives are working as a constructive opposition, not content with shouting from the sidelines, but keen to engage with and improve Labour’s flawed legislative plans.
“We hope that Welsh Labour Ministers will consider these bold proposals and work with Welsh Conservatives to increase housing supply so every family in Wales can have a house to call a home.”
