TALKING ABOUT HOUSING

We need to talk about our Housing crisis, Labour in Wales is silent on the matter and the other Unionist or anti devolution parties are silent on this issue. I see few any positives for Cymru / Wales simply being a simple adjunct to England, or Newport being a simple dormitory town for Bristol or Cardiff. I can never subscribe to the Severnside agenda, no matter how many times it gets rebranded and relaunched. 

In our south east, along the coastal belt and in and around Newport and Torfaen (not to mention around Cardiff and Caerphilly) and across Monmouthshire the last thirty years we have seen a significant if not spectacular growth in the amount of housing. A significant percentage of which in recent years has quite failed to fulfil pressing local housing needs. Second homes are an issue even in our south east, especially in the Wye Valley and adjoining parts of Monmouthshire - but the real issue is access to affordable primary of first homes. 

Quite frankly for serious challenging times, we need serious government and serious leadership. We lack both at all levels of government. That is why we need a Plaid government in Cardiff - with a new agenda which will aim at retrofitting 100,000 homes as part of a £6 billion green economic stimulus package. 

A Plaid Cymru government will create a long-term energy efficiency infrastructure plan to retrofit existing homes to the highest environmental standards. This will contribute to our aim of abolishing fuel poverty and decarbonising our country. Plaid will prioritise houses in fuel poverty. 

As part of the biggest public house building programme for 50 years, Plaid will build or convert 50,000 public homes over the next 5 years, including 15,000 genuinely affordable homes to buy. These will include some among the 26,000 empty homes across Wales that will be brought back into use.

Despite the Labour in Wales Government estimating that we will need an additional 110,000 homes across Wales up to 2039, of which half should be affordable, they have never delivered more than 7,000 new homes a year over the past 10 ten yours: out of which have been a maximum of 1,500 affordable homes. We need a step change in Welsh capacity to provide housing.

A Plaid Cymru government’s definition of affordable homes will mirror the mortgage lending rule of 4.5 times the average local household income or around £125,000 – half the Welsh Government’s definition which includes properties up to £250,000.