{"id":17531,"date":"2023-05-31T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T08:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/?post_type=blog&p=17531"},"modified":"2023-05-31T09:00:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T08:00:23","slug":"if-not-now-when-the-key-milestones-ahead-for-the-right-to-adequate-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/news\/2023\/if-not-now-when-the-key-milestones-ahead-for-the-right-to-adequate-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"If not now, when? – the key milestones ahead for the right to adequate housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Back the Bill coalition has been campaigning to incorporate the right to adequate housing in Wales for a number of years. In late 2021, a commitment to a White Paper on the right to adequate housing was included as part of the co-operation agreement between Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru. Find out from Matt Dicks, Ruth Power, and Alicja Zalesinska why the next 12 months are the most crucial of the campaign to date.<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf not now then, when?\u201d<\/span><\/b> is a question we often ask ourselves as campaign partners. When there are almost 90,000 people on social housing waiting lists and thousands in Temporary Accommodation \u2013 the housing crisis in Wales is inescapable. Too many lives are blighted by inadequate homes. \u00a0What\u2019s worse is that as well as ruining people\u2019s lives, poor housing costs the NHS in Wales \u00a395 million per year. It is widely recognised that the birthplace of the NHS is Wales, solving a 20<\/span>th<\/span> Century endemic issue of poor (public) health. Perhaps it\u2019s time housing in Wales had its equivalent piece of legislation that helps address an equally stubborn problem?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The positive starting point is that Welsh Government recognises its importance. Indeed, earlier this month, the Minister for Climate Change, Julie James, told the Local Government and Housing Committee, \u201c…it\u2019s a fundamental human right that you are adequately housed, and that is the mark of a civilised society that we can adequately house our citizens\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The next 12 months are absolutely key to this aspiration. While a Green Paper will be published shortly, a White Paper consultation will take place next year. But under current timescales, it is unlikely legislation will be passed this Senedd term meaning proposals won\u2019t be presented until 2027 at the earliest. The question we ask is: why wait?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If housing is something we all agree is a right, then surely now is the time to act. While we recognise that legislation often needs to be carefully sequenced, in this particular circumstance, fronting-up with a right to adequate housing \u2013 using it as the fundamental driver for whole-system change \u2013 should be the only game in town.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Looking at it the other way \u2013 building up to a right to adequate housing – misses the point. Rather than it being the cherry on the top of the cake, it\u2019s the key ingredient. The housing situation in Wales is worsening, not improving, and without fundamental joined-up and strategic reform, we are not going to see the positive change we want for Wales where, over time, everyone has access to a safe, suitable home that they can afford. Tinkering around the edges with individual reforms hasn\u2019t worked to date, so there can be no reason to expect it will in the future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what are the barriers to acting now?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, the right to adequate housing will cost money \u2013 but independent cost-benefit analysis has shown that it will deliver savings of \u00a311.5 billion for the Welsh public purse against a cost of \u00a35billion over a 30-year period. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It will mean change for housing and support providers, including local authorities \u2013 but this change means doing existing things better and leveraging in additional resources. All local authorities want good homes for their citizens and taxpayers without having to use inappropriate and expensive and unsuitable hotels as Temporary Accommodation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We also recognise the fear around increased litigation. But hear us out: progressive realisation means the right to adequate housing is realised over time \u2013 not overnight. And with the maximum available resource committed, there will be no immediate increase in litigation. Indeed, the outcome is greater supply and better standards. Fear and risk of immediate litigation could also be mitigated through a \u2018sunrise clause\u2019 in any future Act, giving the government and public bodies time to progress their policies before the right is justiciable. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For us it\u2019s clear that the time to act and bring about positive, long-lasting change is now. Wales has radical and transformational roots in social justice \u2013 Nye Bevan and the creation of the NHS shows this. Housing is the 21<\/span>st<\/span> Century equivalent of the NHS \u2013 our predecessors did not wait for enough hospitals, doctors, and nurses to form the NHS \u2013 they recognised legislation would drive it and got on with it. And that\u2019s the approach we should take now and incorporate a right to adequate housing in Wales. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NOTES:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Matt Dicks<\/strong> is Director of CIH Cymru; Alicja <\/strong><\/span>Zalesinska<\/span><\/strong> is Chief Executive of Tai <\/span>Pawb<\/span>; Ruth Power<\/strong> is Chief Executive of Shelter Cymru. Together, the three organisations <\/span>represent<\/span> the \u2018Back the Bill\u2019 campaign.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Back the Bill coalition has been campaigning to incorporate the right to adequate housing in Wales for a number of years. In late 2021, a commitment to a White Paper on the right to adequate housing was included as part of the co-operation agreement between Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru. Find out from Matt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"temporary-categorisation-from-im":[115],"class_list":["post-17531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","temporary-categorisation-from-im-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17531"},{"taxonomy":"temporary-categorisation-from-im","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taipawb.org\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/temporary-categorisation-from-im?post=17531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}