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Welsh Budget: sector welcomes social housing and homelessness funding boost
Sector bodies have welcomed increases in social housing grant funding and money for homelessness announced in the full Welsh Budget today, but concerns remain around overall allocations.
An extra £5m is being allocated to social housing grant funding under the funding announcement, taking the total for 2024-25 to £370m. The Welsh government had previously set aside £365m in its draft Budget in December.
The devolved administration said today that the extra £5m would help with its aim to build 20,000 low-carbon social homes for rent. Overall around £1.2bn has been allocated for the first four years of the current Senedd term.
Stuart Ropke, chief executive of Community Housing Cymru (CHC), which represents Welsh housing associations, said: “The additional funding today is a really welcome step in the right direction, but there is more to be done.”
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He cautioned that it has “never been more difficult” to build affordable homes due to inflation affecting the impact of government investment.
Matt Dicks, national director of the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru, also welcomed the extra funding, but warned that Wales remained in the “midst of a sustained and systemic housing emergency”, with 139,000 people, including 34,000 children, still waiting for social housing.
It comes after a cross-party committee of Senedd members last week launched an inquiry into social housing supply in Wales.
The Welsh government also announced today an extra £5m, compared to the draft budget, for homelessness prevention and support. The increase will take the final budget for 2024-25 to around £220m.
Cymorth Cymru, which represents providers of homelessness, housing and support services in Wales, said that the total still falls short of what it was asking for and that it is “working to secure” extra funding.
Katie Dalton, director of Cymorth Cymru, said the group was “pleased” to see the extra £5m.
But she said: “We have been clear over the last few months that homelessness and housing support services are in dire need of additional funding in order to avoid service closures and ensure that critical frontline staff receive a fair wage for their exceptional work.”
She added: “We continue to have positive discussions with the Welsh government to explore whether additional funding within this budget can be allocated to the Housing Support Grant to ensure these vital services get the resources they need.”
Mr Ropke also described it as a “welcome increase”.
But he added: “We will continue to work with the Welsh government to ensure that as much additional funding as possible is allocated to the Housing Support Grant.”
An extra £14.4m has also been allocated to councils in Wales through the local government settlement in today’s full Budget, as the devolved administration said it recognised the “substantial pressures” facing local authorities.
The Budget will be debated in the Senedd on Tuesday 5 March.
It comes a day before chancellor Jeremy Hunt is due to deliver his Spring Budget in the Westminster parliament.
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