Housing is in line for an extra £77.98m over the next three financial years, the National Assembly for Wales has announced
Housing is in line for an extra £77.98m over the next three financial years, the National Assembly for Wales has announced.

The assembly’s draft budget shows money for housing increasing by £7.23m in 2001-02, £29.16m in 2002-03 and £41.59m in 2003-04 on top of the £298.21m originally allocated for each year. This is an average annual increase in real terms of 4.4 per cent.

New communities and finance minister Edwina Hart, who announced the draft proposals last week, said the money included an extra £2.5m to help the homeless and other vulnerable groups.

The assembly’s Communities First initiative, which is tackling social disadvantage in up to 100 of Wales’ most deprived areas, has been awarded an extra £15m over the next three years - an average annual increase in real terms of 18.3 per cent.

Chartered Institute of Housing in Wales policy officer Rhian Thomas said the potential increase in funding was good news for the sector. She said: "We are pleased the National Assembly has recognised the importance of providing adequate funding to assist the homeless and other vulnerable groups."

However, she added the institute was concerned that the planned Housing Revenue Account subsidy for 2001-2004 did not meet the assembly’s original projections. She said: "The Housing Revenue Account subsidy will see a decline, year on year, on the original baseline figures. RSLs have not fared much better with no increase in the social housing grant figures."

The proposed changes for HRA result in a deficit of £23m in 2001/02, a deficit of £32m in 2002/03 and a deficit of £37m in 2003/04. The Social Housing Grant in Wales stays at £56.4m for each year during 2001-2003.

Thomas added: "What we would also like to see is an increase in social housing grant and council’s HRA subsidy."

Welsh Federation of Housing Associations policy officer John Lambert said: "Our main concern is that it is difficult to see how the National Housing Strategy for Wales, which we helped develop, is going to be funded. It seems like there are no extra resources dedicated to kick starting the process around the strategy."

The assembly is expected to vote on the budget in early December.

Source

Housing Today