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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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Affordable housing target may now be unreachable
February 23, 2010 12:00 AM
Figures obtained by the Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister, Peter Black have confirmed that the Welsh Government have only managed to add 2,335 affordable properties towards their housing target, not the 4,235 the Government claim.
The figures, provided by the Deputy Minister for Housing in answer to a written question submitted by Mr. Black, show that while there have been 4,235 new affordable properties built, a further 1,900 properties have been either sold or demolished during the same period.
The One Wales agreement was to "ensure that the supply of affordable housing increases by at least 6,500 over the next four years", however in the written questions, the Deputy Minister for Housing states that the figures she uses "relate to additional affordable housing units only" and not those sold or demolished. When the figures for sales and demolitions are taken into account, the supply of affordable housing has only increased by 2,335 properties.
Mr Black said:
"It seems clear to me that if a promise is to increase the supply, then that means when the Government leaves office, there should be 6,500 more affordable homes than when it came into power. But this is apparently not how the Deputy Minister sees it."
"She now admits that she will not be counting the number of sales and demolitions as part of the 'supply' of housing, and simply counting the number built. This is not what was promised by One Wales and means that we will be getting less new homes for families than we had hoped."
"The claim by the Deputy Minister that she will meet the target is simply ridiculous, she is only just over 1/3 of the way to the target with a year to go. The Government often tout this is one of their successes, but even their own figures show they are failing."
"I have warned that this was the case for some time, and I now fear that the target can only be met with great difficulty. It may have been possible if the Government had not made so many mistakes with the original Affordable Housing LCO, but there is simply not enough time to implement and use the powers within the new LCO."
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