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Welsh housing minister slams private sector for building ‘slums of the future’
Welsh housing minister Julie James has criticised private developers for building “the slums of the future”.
Addressing the Tai 2019 conference in Cardiff yesterday, Ms James warned that “substandard” housing is being built in Wales and that “lessons of the past” are not being learned.
She said social housing is her “top priority” as minister for housing and local government, having taken over the post in December.
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However, she added: “But, as I say, to be clear, I’m also concerned about the size and quality of some of the homes being built in Wales by the private sector.
“My officials in the audience will all start holding their head in their hands when I say this, but I’ve said it several times so I’ll say it again.
“I want the private sector to stop building the slums of the future. Because we have driven some developments here in Wales that I think in eight years’ time we’ll have a whole pile of problems in.
“Because they are substandard and they do not have the services with them necessary to sustain them.
“We are not learning the lessons of the past in building those houses. And we need to ensure that government leverage is used to stop that happening, not to help it to happen.”
The minister was speaking after the launch of an independent review of affordable housing supply which called for significant reforms of the grant system.
She said Welsh government will formally respond to the review in July, with an action plan for how to take accepted recommendations forward.
And she told the sector that Welsh government is in talks with lenders during the interim to ease concerns about uncertainty while a response is pending.
