Back the Bill campaign shows Wales can lead the way globally on housing as a human right

To address the severe housing crisis in Wales, Tai Pawb, Shelter Cymru and the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru have launched a campaign to introduce the right to adequate housing into Welsh Law.

Since 2019, the Back the Bill campaign has attracted cross-party political support in Wales, culminating in the inclusion of a White Paper on the right to adequate housing in the recent Co-operation Agreement between Labour (in government) and Plaid Cymru (large opposition party).  Since the campaign’s inception, Back the Bill partners have led on the development of policy in this area including a feasibility report into the right to adequate housing and the drafting of a proposed Right to Adequate Housing Bill for Wales.

Most recently, campaign partners published the findings of the first phase of wider research, which has explored international rights-based housing legislation. The next phase will be a cost-benefit analysis of introducing the right in Wales, anticipated to be published in July next year. In this article, we will see what is in this Draft Bill and the first phase of the research, how it fits into the Welsh context of housing rights, and what will come out of it.

Source: Housing Digital

What is the state of the right to housing in Wales?

The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 introduced a duty on local authorities to provide housing advice and assistance to everyone within their local area, regardless of whether they are homeless, threatened with homelessness, or not[1]. These provisions aim at getting local authorities, in partnership with other relevant bodies, to prevent homelessness. The authorities have a duty to help to prevent an applicant who is threatened with homelessness within the next 56 days, interim duty to secure accommodation for people who may be homeless may be eligible and may be in priority need, duty to help secure accommodation for those who are actually homeless and a duty to secure accommodation for unintentionally homeless households in priority need.

In practice, however, Wales is experiencing a severe housing crisis.

Despite the 2014 legislation, 60 589 households were on a social housing waiting list[2], over 21000 households faced or experienced homelessness[3], and only 1 out of 22 local authorities had accessible housing target in Wales in 2018[4]. According to a poll from CIH Cymru[5], more than three-quarters (77%) of people in Wales support a legal right to housing, while 83 % felt it was the government’s responsibility to provide housing to a decent standard for all.

Back the Bill campaign

This housing crisis led to Tai Pawb (an expert team working at advancing equality and social justice in housing in Wales), Shelter Cymru (an advice-giving charity in Wales particularly around homelessness), and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Cymru (a body supporting housing professionals and upholding standards) establishing ’Back the Bill’, a campaign to realise the Right to Adequate Housing in Wales through the incorporation of the UN Covenant.  

A Feasibility Report and Draft Bill

In June 2019 the campaign partners teamed up with Dr Simon Hoffman (law professor at Swansea University in Wales), published a Feasibility Study on implementing the Right to Adequate Housing in Wales.[6] The study called for a fundamental rethink of how we conceive housing and understanding that “having a safe home is central to human survival”[7], and to learn from the progress made in terms of public policies during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Right to Adequate Housing Draft Bill

On World Human Rights Day in 2020, the campaign published a Draft Bill with a raft of supportive signatories from across the policy sphere – including housing, academics, commissioners, politician and the third sector – which would look to incorporate the right to adequate housing into Welsh law.

First, in the draft bill, there is the adoption of the definition of the right to adequate housing of the Covenant and, further, a statement of the relevant authorities to implement it, namely: the Welsh Ministers (government), when exercising housing functions, and local housing authorities when providing their services

Second, the Draft Bill proposes a Due Regard Duty, which implies that a “relevant authority must [when exercising housing functions] have due regard to the right to adequate housing”.  When having due regard, the authority must consider: the Preamble to the Covenant, any relevant General Comment issued by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and any relevant made by the UN Committee after examination of the UK State Party under Part II of the Covenant.

Third, the Draft Bill states that Welsh Ministers must introduce a Housing Rights Scheme setting out the arrangements they have made or propose to make, which must be elaborated, published, and laid before the Parliament no later than 6 months from the date the Act would come into force.

Fourth, the Draft Bill requires a Housing Impact Assessment to be carried out for any proposed legislation or budget allocation that may have an impact on housing in Wales, and the Welsh Ministers would be required to publish a Compliance Report on how they have complied with their duty on a regular basis.

Finally, the Draft Bill states that a competent authority acting in a manner inconsistent with the right to adequate housing should be considered an unlawful act - unless the authority is compelled to act by primary legislation - and a person who claims to be affected by an unlawful act may take proceedings before a court and obtain compensation.

After its publication, all political parties in Wales were “urged to ‘Back the Bill’ and commit to a legal right to adequate housing in their 2021 Welsh Parliament Election manifestos”^[8]. As a result, "political parties, charities and academics have announced their support for the 'Back the Bill' campaign to make housing a legal right in Wales"[9]. The centre-left and Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru, as well as the Welsh Conservatives (at the time) and the Welsh Liberal Democrats “have each pledged to introduce the right to housing in their manifesto”[10] for the elections to Welsh Parliament in May 2021. According to Matt Dicks, the director of CIH Cymru, legislation is the starting point of a “progressive realisation” of the right to adequate housing[11].

Independent research

In 2021, Back the Bill partners commissioned Alma Economics to undertake research on the implementation of the right to adequate housing in two phases: 1. Exploring international examples of a rights-based approach to housing and 2. A cost-benefit analysis of introducing the right in Wales. Phase one findings were published in early December and have pointed towards the cost of inadequate housing from a health, economic and environmental perspective, including its disproportionate impact on people with protected characteristics. In order to realise the right in Wales, the report identified key lessons - including the need for progressive realisation, robust legislative and governance mechanisms - to implement and oversee the right, as well as an increase in the housing stock. Successfully implementing these would put Wales in a position to become a global leader in the right to adequate housing.

The Co-operation Agreement

Just a couple of weeks ahead of Phase 1 findings, (November 2021), the Labour Welsh Government announced a Co-operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru. The success of the Back the Bill campaign meant the agreement included a commitment to a White Paper on introducing a right to adequate housing in Wales, alongside fair rents and mechanisms on affordability. Back the Bill campaign partners will continue to work with political parties, stakeholders and the wider housing sector to shape the conversation moving forward (in conjunction with the proposals contained in the Draft Bill) – which is where the results of the cost-benefit analysis could prove fruitful in summer next year.