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1,000 WELSH CHILDREN FACE UNCERTAIN 2010 IN TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION - WELSH LIB DEMS
January 12, 2010 2:43 PM
Today, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have called for the UK Government and Welsh Assembly Government to take action to increase the level of social housing after Welsh Liberal Democrat research revealed that 1,000 young people in Wales are living in temporary accommodation, and a further 4,000 are living in housing considered 'overcrowded'.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Roger Williams MP wrote to all local authorities in Wales to see the scale of the problem.
The Liberal Democrats have long argued that more empty homes could be brought back into use, and have put forward policies to use innovative funding schemes to encourage housing associations to use long-term empty properties, much of which the Welsh Assembly Government has the power to introduce.
They are also arguing that VAT on rebuild on repair should be reduced to 5% to encourage developers to refurbish existing empty homes.
Commenting, Roger Williams said:
"The government has failed to encourage the development of empty homes, and local authorities are not getting the assistance they need to ensure that children and families are not left in temporary accommodation.
"This kind of uncertainty can be very damaging for children and families, and local authorities must be assisted to ensure that young people are not left in this type of environment.
"There is a real problem with the lack of social housing - something which Westminster governments have allowed to develop over decades, but it is a particular scandal that so many children do not have a place they can call home.
"The Welsh Assembly Government need the Housing LCO to assist them in easing this crisis, but they already have powers that could help to reduce the burden on local authorities that are not being fully used."
On reducing VAT for rebuild and repair Roger added:
"The Government should be doing everything they can to incentivise builders and developers to bring empty homes back into use, but they have stubbornly rejected our calls to reduce VAT on rebuild and repairs to 5%.
"We are wasting an untapped resource that can reduce the gap between the demand for social housing and the stock, and these figures show that vulnerable people such as children and families are unfortunately paying the price for the Government's lack of foresight."
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