, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Again, this gives us that opportunity to reflect on some of the learning that we have and just look at what the future will actually entail for Help to Buy. I think it is important to extend it. We know it has been really helping people. It provides an…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
I think Help to Buy—Wales is an important tool in supporting home ownership and driving up housing supply. Since its launch—in 2014, believe it or not—Help to Buy—Wales supported more than 14,000 households to purchase a home, with 50 developers and small and…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
One of the things I'm keen to do is I'm intending to start some regional round-tables with local authority housing leads, cabinet members. This is an area where I'd be really interested in seeing where there are pockets of good practice within local…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
This is focused on the 12 months or more. The data we have is for six months or more. Obviously, our target is the longer term ones. So just to confirm to the committee, there have been 974 valid applications for the scheme to date, as well as 169 properties…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Data on empty homes from council tax administration records are based on dwellings that are empty for six months or more, and the latest statistics for 2024-25 show that there are 22,634 chargeable empty properties—so, empty properties for more than six…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
And some authorities, because they've all been at different stages—. I think it's important, as we said at the start, that it does take a bit of time, and people understanding and that communication. But we are seeing now, with those local authorities that…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Yes.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
And I think it's taken a long time to see some progress, building into the system, but we are seeing more coming on all the time. Discussions are taking place with local authorities through workshop events this month and next month, just to try to bring more…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
COVID.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Oh, there you go, but it's taken a while—
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Okay. Thank you, Peter, and I'm glad you mentioned Leasing Scheme Wales, because I think it's a really good project. It started now—. When was it? It started about a year ago, or a year and a half ago.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
I think that is important, isn't it, that we are responding when people tell us things? Sometimes, when we're talking about flexibility, it's that communication and understanding how—. Because we all want to see more homes, but we can't compromise on what…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Thank you, Carolyn. This is something I have heard as well and I’ve been discussing. You will have seen my response, I presume, to the committee’s recommendation around developing a separate standard for acquisitions. Just to reiterate, for us, we think it’s…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
And maybe Stuart might want to say something about the pipeline of TACP as well.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
No. Unfortunately, the problem we have at the moment is we hope that we will have multi-year settlements, I think that’s the indication in future, and that’s obviously what we would then pass on as well. Sorry, Emma.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Thank you, Carolyn. The additional funding is going to be used across both social housing grant, SHG programme and the TACP programme to deliver as many homes as we possibly can towards our 20,000 social homes target. I'm obviously prioritising TACP with that…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Yes. We've got our exemplar sites, haven't we, as well, which I don't know if there's anything in particular—
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Yes. I think, you know, you're absolutely right about how we need to think about the future and how we're planning housing developments and how local authorities plan, and on a regional basis as well. Because, I think, with our ambitions in terms of the…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Stuart, I think, wanted to—.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
No, not at all. No, no, that's absolutely fine. I was just going to finish off just to say, as well, about the importance of—. We do have a strong pipeline there, which I think is really important to deliver more homes this Government term and the next. So, I…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
I was just going to come back to you—
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Perhaps—. Sorry, I was going to come back to Carolyn.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
Diolch, Carolyn. And absolutely, we know that, when it was set, it was a really challenging and ambitious and stretching target, which I think is what you should have from targets, and we really do know the importance of acquiring, building, more homes in…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
And obviously, the UK Government have confirmed that devolved Governments will be provided with additional funding to help mitigate the cost of increased employers' national insurance contributions, so that is over and above the funding allocated in the…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government (Housing)
I mean, I think we look at it as part of this ongoing dialogue. There are those discussions happening, but, as I say, this is an area where it isn't devolved and we have been clear that we've been able to find the £21 million within our budget for the purpose…
