Welsh government announces additional £150m to retrofit social housing
Welsh ministers have allocated an additional £150m to the government’s Optimised Retrofit Programme, which funds the reduction of carbon emissions within social housing.
Announced today by deputy minister for climate change Lee Waters, the money will be used to fund insulation upgrades, alongside the installation of technologies such as heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage.
Smart technologies which enable tenants to better control their energy use will also be installed in homes that receive money via the fund.
The Optimised Retrofit Programme was launched in August last year in a bid to find the best approach to decarbonising various housing types.
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Mr Waters said the programme “will see homes become so well insulated that heat would no longer wastefully escape”.
“Today’s announcement will help thousands more families be warm in their homes and support a just transition towards decarbonisation,” he added.
Matthew Dick, director at the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru, said the additional funding is a “welcome step” and puts Wales “on a much stronger footing in tackling climate change through improving the efficiency of existing homes”.
It is important that funding is also given to the private rented sector “to amplify the impact this investment has for people living in different house tenures across Wales”, he added.
The funding comes one week after the Welsh government launched its Net Zero Wales plan, which outlined how ministers plan to decarbonise social housing by 2050.
The plan included a target that social homes must achieve a minimum energy performance certificate rating of A, the highest one available, by 2033.
The Welsh government also recently introduced a ban on gas boilers being installed in new build social housing.
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