NLA welcomes increase in funding for housing in new Welsh government budget

The National Landlords Association (NLA) has welcomed the Welsh government's plans to increase spending on housing in their draft budget for the next financial year. 

The Welsh government said housing and local government would be the second biggest area of spending. 

The Welsh government also said it will spend £2bn over five years on social housing, which it says will lead to the building of 20,000 affordable homes.

But the draft budget proposal includes the freezing of the Housing Support Grant, which helps people avoid becoming homeless, at £127m a year.

In addition, the budget includes an additional £95.6m for decarbonisation measures in 2020-21 as part of a wider additional green investment of more than £140m. Some £36m will be set aside to ensure energy efficiency measures for 25,000 households through the Nest and Arbed schemes.

An extra £400,000 will be provided to support vulnerable households with advice on home energy to help address fuel poverty.

Gavin Dick, local authority policy officer at the NLA, commented: “The NLA welcomes the Welsh government’s commitment to supporting decarbonisation in their budget. We will continue to work with the Welsh Government to deliver a better private rented sector and deliver the decarbonisation that is required.

“We encourage the Welsh government to further facilitate the improvement of energy efficiency by introducing building passports, which would detail the upgrades that are required to property, and a publicly-accessible repository of best practice for upgrading different types of homes. Together, these will support landlords and property owners to be better informed about the changes they can make to their properties and ease the way to reaching the highest possible energy efficiency rating.”

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