Today marks the first 100 days of the new Welsh Government, so it is a good time to review their First 100 Days Plan and what it means for housing and equalities.
The review of the Warm Homes Programme has seen a welcome additional £17 million investment in home energy upgrades across Wales. However, we know that investment alone is not enough. To ensure these programmes deliver a genuinely fair and equitable transition, we need stronger support for tenants before, during, and after retrofit works.
We appreciate the work that has been carried out into creating Unnos and the delivery of 20,000 new social homes by 2030, particularly the £20 million allocated in the supplementary budget. It is important that we have the right homes for everyone in Wales.
We also warmly greet the high prioritisation of housing as a whole in the Welsh Government’s announced first phase of legislation, which includes the commitment to develop proposals to legislate for the Right to Adequate Housing. The Right to Adequate Housing is foundational to developing fairer, safer housing in Wales. It is the scaffolding upon which all future housing policy and legislative development should be built, creating a framework that strengthens and supports wider reform. For this to be achieved, the Right to Adequate Housing must be delivered early and treated as a priority. We remain keen to work alongside the Welsh Government to realise this right.
Lastly, we applaud the Welsh Government’s renewed commitment to the Disability Rights Plan, the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, and the Nation of Sanctuary Plan. Despite opposition to some of these plans, we join forces in support of the initiatives that help create the Wales of the future we want. The Nation of Sanctuary debate in particular demonstrated the need for clear and firm leadership against misinformation, as we wrote at the time. We will continue to hold the Government to account to continue to speak up for these plans and against misinformation beyond these first 100 days.
Just a reminder of the thought pieces we wrote at the beginning of the 100 days on what the priorities of the new Welsh Government should be:
Housing Equality After the Senedd Election: Building the Foundations of a Fairer Wales
Welsh Government’s new era – what now?
We need to rethink how we see housing. With a new Senedd, that time is now.
Gareth Lynn Montes, Policy Manager