Keynote speech at housing conference

The Director of the Bevan Foundation, Victoria Winckler, delivered the keynote speech opening Community Housing Cymru’s One Housing conference on 4th July.

The Bevan Foundation was delighted that its director, Victoria Winckler, was invited to make the opening speech to Community Housing Cymru’s annual One Housing conference on 4th July 2024. Speaking on  the day of the general election, Victoria began by setting out the scale of income inequality in Wales and demonstrating how those inequalities are reflected and sometimes magnified by housing.

She said that social housing was vital to providing a home for people who did not have the market power to access a decent home, and as a result its tenants were much more diverse than the general population.  

Victoria then outlined the scale of the challenges facing social housing, and provided an overview of the different commitments in the manifestos of the parties standing for election that day.  While most applied to England, the policy approach there could well set the direction of travel in Wales.  Whoever wins, she said, faces some enormous social, economic and financial challenges. 

Victoria recorded a short video clip for CHC which you can view here:  https://x.com/i/status/1808893647393276036

The delegates then heard from the office of the Older People’s Commission, followed by a lively panel discussion.