Report Finds WAG Action Needed on Rural Housing

5.30.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 4th Jun 2008

The Joseph Rowntree report on rural Housing in Wales has today warned of a worrying housing shortage in rural areas. The report found that homes are getting more expensive; more people are homeless; and there is less social housing in rural areas than in urban areas.

The report calls on the Welsh Assembly Government and local authorities to do more to address Wales' rural housing needs. The report describes the Welsh Assembly Government's plans to build 6,500 affordable homes across Wales by 2011 as "ambitious" but states that three times more properties are needed for rural Wales alone.

Kirsty Williams Welsh Liberal Democrat AM for Brecon and Radnorshire said:"It is concerning that the report finds that the shortage of housing in rural areas has been underestimated and inadequately monitored. It is equally worrying that if left unaddressed the here and now problem will have further devastating affects on the future survival of rural communities.

"The lack of affordable and social housing is pushing first time buyers and young people away from rural areas such as Powys. This in turn assists the erosion of local services such as schools and post offices along with reducing economic activity and shrinking the skilled work force.

"A number of Councils across Wales are already looking at rural exemption sites to increase affordable housing provisions, but more Councils need to follow this example.

"Homebuy is another a possible solution and yet the Welsh Assembly Government appears to be shunning this scheme, despite its proven ability to help first time buyers get on the housing ladder.

"The Labour-Plaid Assembly Government also need to increase the money given to Councils and Housing Associations, so that they have more resources to build more housing. We need innovative ways of providing shared equity schemes to those priced out of the market. More ambitious thresholds could be set for developers to build a higher percentage of affordable local needs housing. Local Authority's Unitary Development Plans should include provisions for more affordable housing for local people, with land being allocated for this purpose.

"The government must also promote the development of Community Land Trusts, as seen in Llanbedr, Powys which is a shining example of what local communities can and are doing."

Notes:

The report finds that price to-income ratios are highest in Monmouthshire, southern Powys and parts of the southern national parks, with Powys having the highest price-to-annual earnings ratio in 2007 at 7.5 compared to 6.6 in 2005

An analysis of data for 2003-4 to 2006-7, revealed a rural rate of 7.1 homeless households per 1,000 households compared with 7.7 in urban areas and 6.6 per 1,000 in the valleys. Within rural Wales, highest rates of homelessness were recorded by Pembrokeshire (10.3 per thousand), Carmarthenshire (7.6), Powys (7.3).

The Commission's main recommendations are:

Better use could be made of current housing stock - it estimates that there are up to 18,000 vacant properties in rural areas;

The Assembly Government should develop and promote good practice guides for local authorities on how to bring vacant properties back into use;

A significant proportion of second-home council tax should be used by rural local authorities to respond to housing needs in their areas. One suggestion of how the fund could be used is to set up a network of Rural Housing Enablers who, amongst other duties, would help to identify needs and seek sites for affordable housing.