Carl Sargeant, Minister for Housing and Regeneration
This was published under the 2011 to 2016 administration of the Welsh Government
I am pleased to announce that during 2011-12 and 2012-13 local authorities reported 4,474 additional affordable homes were delivered across Wales, representing 60 per cent of our target of 7500 additional affordable homes during this term of Government.
These figures clearly demonstrate that we are on course to meet our target. A vital component of meeting the target is the recently announced Housing Finance Grant. This is a new funding package that will receive £4 million per year over the next 30 years from the Welsh Government to support overall investment of around £130 million, delivering over 1,000 affordable new homes over the next two years.
This is a clear signal of our continued commitment to housing and of the excellent progress that has been made in the first two years. We intend to continue to innovate to deliver more housing that is affordable, of a good standard and is accessible to a range of people’s needs. This will support our wider objectives of tackling poverty, preventing homelessness, mitigating the impact of welfare reform and underpinning the delivery of jobs and growth in Wales.
I am particularly pleased that we have already been able to exceed our target of 500 new affordable homes which have been built on surplus public sector land. Local authorities have reported a total of 857 additional affordable homes delivered in 2011-2012 and 2012-213 on land made available by the public sector. The Housing Supply Task Force I have set up will report by the end of this year and will set out recommendations as to how we can build on this success and what more can be done to improve housing supply across Wales.