On December 19th, the 2022 Wales Housing Research Conference took place at Cardiff University’s Glamorgan Building, allowing delegates to come together and share research evidence relating to some of the most pressing Welsh housing issues.
Co-hosted by WISERD’s Wales Housing Research Network, the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence, and Shelter Cymru, this year’s conference brought together delegates from across Wales and beyond, providing an opportunity to collaborate and share research with others working within the housing sector.
This year’s housing conference included a diverse range of topics. The conference kicked off with two insightful plenary presentations by Katie Dalton of Cymorth Cymru, and Dr Sophus zu Ermgassen from University of Oxford. Katie’s session focussed on the severe impacts of the cost-of-living crisis on frontline homelessness and housing support workers in Wales. Katie provided a strong voice on behalf of her members, as she continues to campaign for policy to prevent homelessness in the wider community. Sophus’ plenary seminar homed in on the need for ‘a home for all within planetary boundaries’ by identifying pathways for meeting the UK’s housing needs, without transgressing climate goals and preventing conflict between housing and sustainability objectives.
Following the plenary discussions, our first round of parallel sessions began with three engrossing seminars covering different contemporary housing issues. Peter Mackie (convenor of WISERD’s Wales Housing Research Network) presented findings on homelessness during the pandemic and examples of the use of data linkage to provide policy relevant evidence. Various other talks took place at the same time, presenting research on subjects such as housing construction, and LGBTQ+ and youth homelessness.
Our afternoon plenaries featured Professor Flora Samuel of University of Reading, speaking of the importance of ‘Community Consultation for Quality of Life’. This project aims to introduce a map-based model of community engagement, allowing people to measure and assess the impact of changes to their neighbourhoods. Following this, CaCHE director Ken Gibb gave attendees an insight into ‘Rent Control’ and gave valuable contributions to current policy debates.
To close the day, delegates took part in 3 more parallel sessions. Jonathan Clode and Jennie Bibbings of Shelter Cymru discussed methods of preventing eviction due to anti-social behaviour, identifying opportunities for effective interventions and more holistic approaches to anti-social behaviour. Other parallel talks included building evidence-based policy & practice change, as well as childhood ontological security in Britain’s insecure, deregulated, increasingly unaffordable private rented sector.
WISERD has been supporting the Wales Housing Research Conference since 2010 and we look forward to the next iteration of this collaborative, sector-wide event.