Plan to give people right to a good home rejected

A new white paper on housing has been criticised

A proposed law creating a right to an adequate home has been rejected by the Welsh government.

Campaigners say a new set of government policies published on Thursday “fall short” of what’s needed to deal with a “housing emergency”.

Plaid Cymru also accused the government of publishing a “weak and underwhelming” policy document on housing, three years after it was promised as part of a deal between Plaid and Labour.

The Welsh government said: “The principle that everyone has a right to an adequate home is one we wholeheartedly support.”

The document, called a white paper, sets out policies to help make housing affordable and keep a roof over people’s heads.

It says it has an “ambition to ensure everyone in Wales has access to adequate housing”.

Seven criteria, proposed by the United Nations, set out what an adequate home looks like.

They include being affordable, with residents safe from forced eviction.

But a consultation heard different views on whether legal changes were needed.

Councils worried about the funding required to deliver adequate housing and there were fears that private landlords could pull out of the market, it said.

Instead, it proposes a housing strategy that ministers would have to publish by law after the next election in 2026.

Public bodies could also have a duty to “have regard” to the strategy when providing housing.

Further legislation could happen in the future “once there is a greater availability of adequate housing”, it added.

Housing Secretary Jayne Bryant said: “Ensuring everyone in Wales has a decent, affordable and safe place to call home is a key ambition of this government.”

'Lack of ambition'

Labour promised a white paper “to include proposals for a right to adequate housing” in a co-operation deal with Plaid Cymru in 2021.

Plaid, which cancelled the deal earlier this year, said the white paper showed “a lack of ambition”.

“It beggars belief that it’s taken two years to produce a document that is so weak and underwhelming, which falls so short of the original expectations set out in the co-operation agreement,” Plaid's Sian Gwenllian said.

The white paper also rules out rent controls, saying it could lead to a reduction in lettings.

But there are proposals to collect and publish more data on rents, so people can see how much is being charged in their local area.

Ministers also said they wanted to help tenants keep pets.

Landlords could ask pet owners to pay towards extra insurance, up to a limit to be set out by the Welsh government.

The Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru (CIHC) said the white paper had some positive steps forward but "falls short of fundamental change and ambition which can only be delivered through hard-wiring a legal commitment to providing housing as a human right".

CIHC added: “The current housing emergency – with record numbers in temporary accommodation, on social housing waiting lists and in poor quality housing – necessitates a radical solution."