A Plaid Cymru government will accelerate delivery of social homes over the next Senedd term, tackling homelessness, keeping people out of unfit temporary accommodation, reducing waiting lists, and making housing more affordable for everyone.
We will work with local authorities and social landlords to deliver new, high-quality homes, and to bring empty properties back into use as social housing – delivering at least 20,000 new social homes by 2030.
We will:
- Develop our understanding of housing need through a regular Welsh Housing Survey and improved data standards.
- Reduce regulatory barriers to building and buying-in more social homes, including through more balanced energy efficiency requirements.
- Encourage investment in housebuilding by Welsh pension funds, and examine options for developing new financial products through the Development Bank of Wales and by better leveraging of Welsh Government borrowing powers.
We will also establish a community right to buy, including for land for housing, and support community-led housing as a way to deliver affordable homes that meet local needs.
To further improve access to affordable housing in rural areas in particular, we will examine options for extending permitted development rights for single dwellings and converting farm buildings for residential use.