6. What is the extent of the Welsh Government's powers to ensure that rents for social housing are affordable? OAQ53446

Rents must be affordable for people living in social housing. Social landlords are required to comply with the current Welsh Government rent policy, which provides a framework within which social landlords are responsible for setting the rents for their own properties and tenants.

My understanding is that the Welsh Government has set an index of 2.4 per cent rise at the September 2018 consumer price index assessment of what is reasonable, and that means that tenants’ weekly rent, if they're assured tenants, is only 2.4 per cent. Now, my understanding is that this only applies to assured rents and it will come into effect on 1 April this year. I’ve had several tenants correspond with me, concerned about the level of rent increases they’re experiencing. One assured tenant, who obviously won’t experience more than a 2.4 per cent increase, is also being loaded with service charges for additional things like decoration, gardening, roof repairs, this sort of thing, and she reports that, over the last few years, since the service charge and the rent have been split, there have been significant increases twice a year. So, that’s produced a very significant outlay for that individual.

For another individual, who is a secure tenant, a fair rent is set by a rent officer. The last review was in October, and it was set at an 8 per cent increase over the next two years. Now, that’s well above the 2.4 per cent. And the concern I have is that social landlords are finding loopholes to not adhere to the Welsh Government’s guidelines of 2.4 per cent and that this is in a context of an absolute shortage of affordable housing, and that people on low wages are concerned that they’re simply not going to be able to stay in their social rented housing unless they go on to housing benefit, producing a perverse incentive to become unemployed. And, obviously, we’d all agree—

You do need to ask a question.

Thank you. Apologies. And so, my concern is, what can the Welsh Government do about this, given the implications there are for social housing tenants?

Can I thank the Member for her question? I recognise that delivering all the housing we need across tenures is a challenge, a challenge not just for those delivering the housing, but challenges for people in need of that housing as well.

You’re right to say that the Welsh Government has decided that this year’s rents in the social housing sector should increase by no more than 2.4 per cent. Individual social housing landlords have made the case that, in managing a house, there can be a need to vary rent increases in different parts of their stock. Where this case has been made persuasively, the Welsh Government has agreed to allow a limited and controlled variation around an average increase of 2.4 per cent. The points that you’ve raised in terms of actually the challenges some of your constituents are facing merit further attention, and I’d invite you perhaps to write to the Minister for housing on this issue so that we can look further into that.