New report on housing and its benefits launches in Wales

Linda Whittaker, Director of Housing at the Welsh Assembly Government will launch the new report ‘Housing and its Benefits – the added value’ at the CIH Cymru Conference on 28th March at Cardiff City Hall.

The report, sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government and Valleys to Coast Housing (V2C), highlights the work of the housing sector not only in helping to deliver sustainable communities but also in supporting a much wider set of Government’s key policy priorities such as raising educational performance, improving health and well-being, and delivering sustainable development.

CIH Cymru believes that, at a time of continued pressure to spend scarce public resources on health, education and security, maintaining investment in housing is critical if we are to achieve our mission of contributing to the well-being of communities. The chapters in this report highlight the areas where real benefits can be realised, and case studies show what has been achieved within our communities and across the UK.

Writing in the foreword to the report Linda Whittaker said: "Housing is a key driver in regenerating the physical environment, improving social cohesion and generating economic benefits through training and employment opportunities. However, the main benefit all of these bring is the health and wellbeing of the individuals within those areas we invest in. We are on the cusp of a great opportunity in Wales, together we must ensure it is taken. "

Kellie Beirne, CIH Cymru Chair said: "We hope that ‘Housing and its Benefits…..the added value’ makes for compelling reading and we urge as many people as possible, both within and outside the housing sector, to accept the evidence and promote both the successes of the sector to date and its inherent future potential.

"With opportunities on the horizon for an updated National Housing Strategy; strengthening of the important, permanent strategic housing role of local authorities; opportunities for cross-professional development (i.e. CIH Cymru’s role in the Regeneration Skills Collective); and good practice evolving from cross-cutting, cross-boundary collaboration (Heads of the Valleys programme), we firmly see ‘Housing and its Benefits….the added value’ as the start of a wider campaign to re-position the housing sector."