Rural Housing Action Guide for Wales

Description

Welsh Government is actively working towards the delivery of the 7 wellbeing goals and 5 ways of working identified in the Well Being of Future Generation (Wales) Act 2015: https://www.gov.wales/well-being-future-generations-act-essentials-html. It is believed that there are clear health benefits of having a good quality home which is affordable and located in a safe environment. Investing public money in delivering new homes, and improving existing homes, contributes to national and local economies by creating and supporting jobs and training opportunities as well as improving people’s health, well-being, and quality of life. The Welsh government has set a target of delivering 20,000 additional homes for rent in the social sector in this Senedd term (2021-2026), which is being supported by record levels of funding of circa £1.2billion over the first four years of the Senedd term. The capacity and skills of developers to design, plan and deliver these homes is essential in meeting this target – including in the rural communities of Wales. There is a general consensus that delivering new homes in rural areas faces additional challenges to those in urban areas, this range from accurately understanding housing needs and aspiration, identifying appropriate sites, achieving economies of scale, securing funding and meeting planning requirements. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to increase the supply of new affordable homes in rural areas by developing a rural housing action guide (‘the guide’) with key stakeholders based on research on the support required by communities and social housing providers. The guide should aim to inform Local Authorities and social landlords with improving the supply of social and affordable housing in rural areas by increasing the pace and scale of delivery. It should encourage new collaborative ways of working across the sector, promote innovation and partnership, and challenge issues that are barriers to affordable housing delivery through a clear and cohesive approach with in the guide.