'Progress' made on tackling housing emergency but more work still to be done
A council cabinet member couldn't say whether this year's budget will be enough to help Cardiff Council tackle some of its biggest housing challenges.
Speaking at a Cardiff Council scrutiny committee meeting on Monday, February 24, the local authority's cabinet member for housing and communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne, said 'significant progress' is being made to address the housing emergency.
However she added that the council's homelessness services still face 'huge demands'.
Last year it was reported that about 8,000 people were on Cardiff Council's housing waiting list.
Welsh Government statistics show that in November 2024 there were 23 rough sleepers in the city.
At Monday's community and adult services scrutiny committee meeting Cllr Bablin Molik asked Cllr Thorne if she thought the council's budget for 2025-26 offered the support that's needed.
Cllr Thorne said: 'At the moment it looks like family homelessness is plateauing. Single-person homelessness is not and so it is very difficult to say on that.'
The cabinet member went on to say that some schemes, like the development of housing, are dependant on inflation.
Inflation and demand on council services are among the factors that led to Cardiff Council facing a budget gap of more than £60m for 2025-26.
Following the confirmation of funding from the Welsh Government the council now faces a £27.7m budget gap.
Cllr Thorne added: 'I guess the Welsh Housing Quality Standard is the biggest challenge for us and I think it is going to be a challenge for all local authorities.
'I couldn't possibly sit here and commit and say: 'Yes, we will achieve everything that we have set out to achieve', particularly if it means investment.'
The Welsh Government's latest housing quality criteria – also known as Welsh Housing Quality Standards (WHQS) 2023 – means that council homes must meet certain energy efficiency standards over the next 10 years.
Council homes must achieve an energy efficiency of SAP (standard assessment procedure) 75 (mid band C) by 2030 and SAP 92 (band A) by 2034.
Thousands of council properties still fall below the SAP 75 target and it is estimated that £351m will be required to bring all council properties up to this standard.
Vale of Glamorgan Council is another local authority that has said in the past that meeting the Welsh Government's housing efficiency targets on time will be a challenge.
At a meeting in April, 2024 council officials at the local authority said it would cost hundreds of millions of pounds over the next decade to reach the housing goal.
Cllr Thorne said a meeting was held with the Welsh Government in which WHQS23 was discussed.
She went on to add: 'I think perhaps the ambition will change. Maybe the timescale will change but we will have to wait and see.'
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