The JRF Commission Report on Rural Housing in Wales (click on title to access this report)

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation Commission’s Report on Rural Housing in Wales makes interesting reading from the outset, and the nature of problem and its applicability to rural Wales is made clear on the front cover:

“Rising unmet housing need has been a growing trend across the UK and rural Wales has been no exception; in fact issues of affordability, homelessness and the need for social housing have often been more acute in rural Welsh areas.”

Much of the analysis has appeared in an earlier JRF report, but what is most interesting in this June 2008 report is the stridency of the recommendations, and the implied inadequacies of the One Wales Government with regard to housing policy. Here is a flavour of what is recommended:

The Welsh Assembly Government should develop a single definition of and methodology for calculating housing need and affordability.
The Welsh Assembly Government should co-ordinate a more detailed and sophisticated collation of evidence on rural housing need to plug the gaps in the current data.
The Welsh Assembly Government should review planning policy to ensure it encourages innovation and flexibility.
There needs to be a seismic upward shift in affordable housing provision. The Welsh Assembly Government needs to co-ordinate this based on national evidence on housing need and local targets for delivery of affordable housing.
The Welsh Assembly Government should establish a database of public land with development potential on which to base strategic decisions for disposal for affordable housing.

Local authorities need to be a lot more pro-active, and this means Town and Community Councils as well as the unitary authorities:

Local housing and planning authorities need to use their existing powers more effectively to deliver further affordable housing.
Local authorities should set affordability thresholds according to local conditions and constantly monitor these.
Local authorities should establish Local Housing Partnerships to co-ordinate local housing need assessment and solutions.

The recommendation that seems to have attracted the most publicity is:
The Welsh Assembly Government and local planning authorities should create a national network of at least 12 Rural Housing Enablers.

Let us hope that this report forces some concerted action on the part of WAG and local authorities to address the severe problem of lack of affordable housing. For too long they have all simply sat on their hands. In Llandrindod, the private landlord lobby has found it all too easy to persuade the local authority to do as little as possible to address local housing need and in this they have been supported by a complacent Town Council, which has simply ignored a recent survey of local housing need which it commissioned.