Housing Futures Cymru: Our manifesto for change

It’s tough for young people at the moment, and it has been for a while, writes Joe Stockley as he reflects on the upcoming Senedd election and the launch of the Housing Futures Cymru manifesto.

Young people were hit particularly hard by the pandemic — insecure work, limited savings to act as a buffer, some paying through the nose for university and accommodation only to spend years living with their parents. By my age (I am 30), my parents had three children; I can count on one hand friends who can afford to start a family.

The BBC places Wales as the most difficult part of Great Britain for first-time buyers to start on the property ladder, with less than three per cent able to afford a home. One would think it was simple: give younger people a strong foundation for their lives — a way to afford a home — and in turn you will create a generation with opportunity and capacity.

Instead, we are watching the ladder being pulled up in front of our eyes. As we say yn Gymraeg: ofnadwy!

Our manifesto asks 

It is against this backdrop that CIH Housing Futures Cymru, a group of 11 housing professionals under the age of 35, have drafted a housing manifesto purely from the perspective of young people.

We are proud of our manifesto. It outlines five areas we would like to see action from the next Welsh government on in collaboration with other organisations:

• Improve housing options for young people
• Strengthen the Discretionary Assistance Fund (DAF)
• Build cohesive communities through placemaking
• Ensure affordable thermal comfort and decarbonisation
• Support and resource housing professionals.

Obviously, it is easier to say than to do. Housing in Wales is competing with many other spending priorities. But besides food and water, there is no more basic human need than shelter — and we have got a lot to do on that front.

The big issues

Housing is at the core of many people’s problems in Wales. We don’t have enough of them, for one, and the homes we do have are often not fit for purpose or unaffordable.

In addition, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, more than one in five people in Wales live in poverty. I shout about this statistic at every opportunity I can because it’s not good enough and it makes me angry every time I remember it.

One way to help with this is by delivering better quality, thermally comfortable, well-thought-out homes and communities. This in turn will help with the cost of living crisis, which is battering young people. The piecemeal attention offered to the problem by the Welsh government is currently not enough.

Wales is the country of many good policy ideas. It is small enough to try new things, and big enough to provide a good test for them. We have the Future Generations Act, a piece of legislation that was written in 2015 to “ensure that future generations have at least the same quality of life as we do now”. It legally binds public bodies to futureproof the work they do.

It is an excellent principle. Why can we not see the fruits of its labour across Welsh housing? Why is Wales the only country in Great Britain where private landlords can evict tenants with no reason? Why is my generation referred to as ‘generation rent’?

We want a sector that nurtures and develops — not one that overloads and under engages its younger professionals

Housing professionals need more support, with research such as that undertaken by CIH Futures finding two in five young housing professionals have experienced burnout in the last year. We want a sector that nurtures and develops, not one that overloads and under engages its younger professionals.

And we want tenants to be put at the heart of social housing delivery. “Nothing about us, without us” is a mantra from the disability rights movement, recognising that people are the experts of their own needs and should be in control of the decisions which affect their lives. Is that true for tenants in social housing?

Time to deliver

I have asked a lot of questions in this article. Throughout the CIH Futures Cymru manifesto, we suggest some nuanced answers.

We are not interested in sound bites. We want good homes, and we are interested in working with whoever takes their seat in the Senedd in May. Hopefully, they will share our view.

• Read the CIH Futures Cymru manifesto
• Darllenwch faniffesto CIH Futures Cymru

Image credit: Joe Stockley