Along with other organisations operating in the housing and homelessness sector, we believe that everyone in Wales should be able to access a safe, secure, suitable and genuinely affordable home, because home is a human right.
For hundreds of thousands of people in Wales the only way to realise this vision is through a social home. But for decades we have failed to deliver the social homes we need in Wales and while we change that by continuing to increase the number of social homes, those we do have are rationed based on local policies. While this may be necessary, it’s vital that these policies focus on people’s housing needs, that they comply with equality and human rights legislation, and that they are implemented transparently.
Scapegoating particular groups of people in Wales will not solve the housing emergency.
Excluding people in need from accessing social homes will only serve to push more people towards homelessness and ramp up the pressure on our already overstretched local authority and third sector services – and risk pushing more people into unsafe situations, such as rough sleeping.
We want to be clear that the central problem driving the rationing of social homes, and the wider housing emergency in Wales, is a chronic lack of social homes. This is a problem that we can, and must, work together to solve so that everyone in Wales has the firm foundation of a suitable home.
