The 2026 Senedd election has resulted in a seismic change in Wales. After leading every government since the first devolved election in 1999, and a dominance in Wales spanning nearly a century, the Labour Party (or Welsh Labour) will no longer be the party in charge. The election result has seen the first ever Plaid Cymru-led government.
The housing challenges this new Welsh Government is going to face are well known. They have been covered in more detail in our previous blogs and elsewhere. Please take a moment to read them here:
- Housing Equality After the Senedd Election: Building the Foundations of a Fairer Wales – Tai Pawb
- Welsh Government’s new era – what now? – Blog from Amy Bainton, Head of Policy and Public Affairs – Tai Pawb
The magnitude of said challenges should present an opportunity to do things differently. So far, many fixes, whilst well-meaning and impactful on people’s lives, have fallen short of providing long-term solutions. We need to rethink how we see housing. Is a house just a place we live in or is it the foundation of everything else? And if we accept and agree that a house is much more than just four walls and a roof, should not everyone in Wales have the right to access adequate and sustainable housing? And should not this right be underpinned by law?
Wales has always been at the forefront of advancing the causes of human rights. People in Wales have always thought outside the box to come up with brave and ambitious solutions to improve the living conditions of people in Wales, the UK, and the world. From Robert Owen and the cooperative movement’s work on improving factory working conditions and the role of the state in education, to the foundations set in Tredegar which would become the National Health Service.
Ahead of the statement by the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning later today, for housing, this bold solution is the Right To Adequate Housing. The Right To Adequate Housing is a fundamental human right that ensures everyone can live in security, peace, and dignity, with access to safe, affordable, and culturally appropriate housing. Alongside our Back the Bill partners of CIH Cymru and Shelter Cymru, we have been campaigning since 2019 to make the Right To Adequate Housing in Wales a reality. Please read more about our work and how you can support our campaign Back The Bill Campaign
An exact description of what the Right To Adequate Housing is and is not is outside the scope of his blog post, and will be covered in detail in future posts and publications. But to be brief, the Right To Adequate Housing is a series of freedoms (protection against forced evictions, the right to choose one’s residence, and the right to be free from arbitrary interference with one’s home) and entitlements (security of tenure, equal and non-discriminatory access to adequate housing, etc.).
For housing to be adequate, it must be more than bricks and mortar. It must also take into account availability of services, affordability, habitability, accessibility, location, and cultural adequacy. On the other hand, the Right To Adequate Housing is not an obligation on any national or local government to provide every individual their interpretation of an adequate home, least of all from day one. Legislating the Right To Adequate Housing alone is not enough, and mechanisms have to be put in place to achieve said right. However, legislating the Right To Adequate Housing underpins it in law, committing successive governments to the progressive realisation of a right to adequate housing with all available resources.
We were thrilled to see Plaid Cymru’s commitment to a Right To Adequate Housing in their election manifesto and first 100 days plan. Siân Gwenllian, the new Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning has long been a supporter of the Right To Adequate Housing, and we held very successful talks with her on the topic when her party was in opposition. Now is the time to put these words into action.
As a start, we have written a letter to several Welsh Government Cabinet Ministers alongside our Back The Bill partners to remind them of their party’s commitment to a Right To Adequate Housing and with an offer of support to legislate on the matter. The next four-year term will be jam-packed with competing priorities and emerging and pressing challenges, so it is imperative to start work in this area now. It is also crucial that this is not seen as solely a housing matter, and that there is a cross-ministerial effort to realise the Right To Adequate Housing. The added benefits to health and educational outcomes and economic growth speak for themselves (as demonstrated in the reports linked below).
The work needed will be extensive, but as Back the Bill we have made a start. Over the last few years, we have developed several resources to make this legislative step as straightforward and as smooth as possible.
- The right to adequate housing in Wales: Feasibility Report – RightToHousing
- The right to adequate housing in Wales: the evidence base – Alma Economics Back the Bill Phase 1 Full Report
- Back the Bill: A route for the right to adequate housing in Wales – Road Map – Back the Bill: A route for the right to adequate housing in Wales
- The Right to Adequate Housing (Wales) Bill – Back the bill right to adequate housing
We can also call upon international evidence and learn from the successes and failures of efforts to legislate the Right To Adequate Housing elsewhere.
The question is, if not now, when? Ambition is critical, and together we can make the Right To Adequate Housing a reality over the next four years.