North Wales housing associations call for more Welsh Government investment in social homes

Five North Wales housing associations and Community Housing Cymru have called on the Welsh Government for more investment in social and affordable homes and wider financial support for tenants facing rising costs.

Grŵp Cynefin, Adra, Cartrefi Conwy, ClwydAlyn and North Wales Housing made the call with Community Housing Cymru (CHC) at the Plaid Cymru conference in Llandudno on Friday 2 October, according to a statement published by Grŵp Cynefin.

In a joint statement, the five chief executives said their organisations together provide 26,500 homes across North Wales for 56,000 people. They said the associations had invested £510m over the past three years in building 1,850 social homes, and £256m in their existing homes.

The statement was issued by Mel Evans, chief executive of Grŵp Cynefin; Iwan Trefor Jones, chief executive of Adra; Adrian Johnson, chief executive of Cartrefi Conwy; Clare Budden, chief executive of ClwydAlyn; and Helena Kirk, chief executive of North Wales Housing.

"Good housing is the catalyst for a number of key priority areas, including health, education, social care, economy and the Welsh language," the five chief executives said.

They said continuing that work would need greater funding and a longer-term strategy for supporting housing.

Support for tenants

The associations and CHC said tenants needed wider financial support to deal with increasing food and energy costs.

Clarissa Corbisiero, deputy CEO of Community Housing Cymru, said housing associations alone could not fully offset wider pressures on household incomes, and that there was growing concern for tenants ahead of winter.

"Both Welsh and UK governments must strengthen household incomes and the social safety net, including improvements to Universal Credit, the Discretionary Assistance Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments," she said.

Corbisiero said this must be accompanied by increased investment to increase the amount of social housing available.

CHC says on its website that social housing tenants are among those hit hardest by the cost of living crisis.

The national picture

Housing associations in Wales provide about 174,000 homes and housing-related support to about a tenth of the population, according to CHC. It describes them as independent, not-for-profit organisations whose core purpose is to provide affordable housing.

Welsh Government statistics show 3,643 additional affordable housing units were delivered across Wales in 2024 to 2025. Registered social landlords delivered 2,681 of them, or 74% of the total.

The same statistics put the total delivered between April 2021 and March 2025 at 13,399. In a written statement of 13 November 2025, the Welsh Government forecast that 18,652 low-carbon homes for rent would have been delivered by May 2026.

A CHC blog published in August 2026 referred to a Welsh Government commitment to deliver 20,000 homes for social and intermediate rent. The blog named Sian Gwenllian MS as the new housing cabinet minister.

Background

The session was not the sector's first at a Plaid Cymru conference in Llandudno. Adra said it and CHC took part in a housing panel at the party's Spring Conference in the town on 21 March 2025.

Grŵp Cynefin operates across the six counties of north Wales and north Powys and has main offices in Penygroes and Denbigh. It was formed by the merger of Tai Clwyd and Tai Eryri.

The association said in May 2025 that it had an existing stock of 5,000 homes and intended to build 300 new homes by 2028.