More money is needed to build new homes in Wales, says audit
The Welsh Government is unlikely to meet its target of delivering 20,000 new low-carbon social homes by March 2026: The Auditor General for Wales
Last updated 5th Sep 2024
The watchdog, The Auditor General for Wales, has found that the Welsh Government's plans to build 20,000 new homes by 2026 may not happen.
Currently less than half (10,000) have been built so far since the Welsh Labour party made its promise in the last Senedd Election.
The watchdog believes that unless there is an extra cash intake, the Welsh government could fall more than 4,000 homes short of its target by March 2026.
The auditor noted that some of the schemes which are being considered to reach the target, are considered high-risk, which could further reduce the final count.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We thank Audit Wales for their report into affordable housing in Wales and we will be considering its findings and recommendations and will respond in due course.
“There are a range of factors impacting housing supply, not least the recent sustained period of record inflationary pressures, which has made achieving the target even more challenging.
"We continue to work with the housing sector to deliver more homes.
“Tackling homelessness and delivering more homes is a key priority for this government and we have set a challenging target and allocated record levels of funding to housing supply in this Senedd term, with more than £1.4bn invested so far.”