Meeting Wales’ 20,000 home challenge

With social housing high on the UK agenda, the Bevan Foundation’s Director, Victoria Winckler, looks beyond Wales’ 20,000 target

The Bevan Foundation contributes a monthly column to Wales’ leading, independent business news website, Business News Wales. The website has more than 250,000 monthly visitors across all sectors of the Welsh economy, enabling the Bevan Foundation to reach deep into the business community.

This month, Victoria looks at the Welsh Government’s commitment to building 20,000 homes for social rent by 2026. Three years into the five-year plan, progress is falling short due to lack of affordable and developable land, the slowness of the planning system, and issues with supply chains and recruitment.

Even if the target is reached, Victoria highlights that there is far more work that needs to be done, considering the scale of the housing crisis. There must be a sustained programme of affordable house building, right to the end of the decade and into the 2030s – the 20,000 target is just a start.

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