Shadow Housing Minister Mark Isherwood AM has challenged the Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty this week over Welsh Government support for Rural Housing Enablers, who work with and on behalf of rural communities across Wales to address the shortage of affordable homes.
Speaking in the Chamber this week, Mr Isherwood, who has previously expressed concern that not enough is being done to meet the housing needs of rural Wales and support the role of Rural Housing Enablers, said:
“Of course, the omission of a budget line for Rural Housing Enablers caused huge concern, and your U-turn announcement on this was very well received. In taking this forward, however, what action have you actually taken.
“We did ask you about this in Committee, and you failed to address the question then. However, what action have you taken since the Welsh Government’s 2014 Evaluation of Rural Housing Enablers in Wales to address the concern raised in that there had been a change in activity away from raising community awareness of rural housing needs and measuring it, when the enablers, in fact, need to be supported to identify that need in order to work with the community to deliver more housing?”
The Minister, Lesley Griffiths AM, replied: “I absolutely recognise that Rural Housing Enablers really make a real difference in delivering rural housing. I made the announcement of the extension of the funding way back last year at their conference, so they’ve always been assured that that funding was there so that they could continue to work with communities across rural Wales to ensure that projects were delivered.”
Mr Isherwood added: “When she confirmed funding at last March’s Community Housing Cymru Rural Regeneration Conference, she said this was only ‘in principle’ and subject to future