A Welsh language pressure group has announced it will host a rally promoting a message of 'Nid yw Cymru ar Werth' (Wales is Not for Sale) during the same Bank Holiday weekend as King Charles III's official coronation later this year. The rally, which is being organised by Cymdeithas yr Iaith, will take place in the historical town of Caernarfon in Gwynedd on Monday, May 8, where campaigners will call for better housing for people who can't afford homes in Wales.
From April this year, a change in Welsh Government legislation means that all county councils in Wales are permitted to hike council tax premiums by up to 300% in a bid to tackle the increasing number of second homes and holiday lets in Wales. You can get the latest WalesOnline newsletters e-mailed to you directly for free by signing up here.
The government will also change the rules on holiday lets come April, meaning holiday homes that are currently let out for more than 70 days a year and which are available to be let out for more than 140 will instead have to be let out for more than 182 days and be available for let for upwards of 252 days in order to pay business rates instead of council tax.
Read more: People who own empty homes to be given £25k to fix them up
According to Cymdeithas yr Iaith, however, more needs to be done to ensure that houses remain in the hands of local communities, with the pressure group calling on the Welsh Government to implement a Property Act to control the market. Jeff Smith, on behalf of Cymdeithas yr Iaith's Sustainable Communities Group, said: "We are pleased that the pressure is coming to fruition and that climate change minister Julie James announced last week a number of further practical steps to alleviate the situation.
"New proposals such as looking into enabling local authorities to provide mortgages to help people afford a home in their local area and flexibility in the Home Purchase Scheme are promising, but these are only measures to mitigate the effects of housing problems. The measures are not ambitious enough. The operation of the housing market, the vulnerable position of private tenants and the shortage of social housing is a problem throughout Wales. Instead of solutions that will only reduce the problem, we call on the Welsh Government to seize the opportunity to present in this parliamentary term a complete Property Act to control the market, empower our communities and give our people the right to a home locally."
With the rally set to take place two days after King Charles III's coronation, and during a Bank Holiday weekend full of coronation events, Osian Jones of Cymdeithas yr Iaith said it would represent a "clear contrast" from the events taking place in London. Mr Jones said: "There will be clear contrast between the celebration of privilege and wealth in London that will be the crowning and our rally in Caernarfon, where we will pay attention to the crisis in our communities, a crisis that forces local people out for that they cannot afford a home to rent or buy.
"I believe that hundreds, if not thousands, will come to the rally to demand that the Welsh Government introduce a Property Act to ensure that our houses are treated as social assets to provide homes and not as commercial assets to be exploited. We need to act for people who despair of having a home, and we need to take a stand for the future of our Welsh communities, before it's too late."
In response, a Welsh Government spokesperson said: "We believe that everybody has a right to a decent, affordable home to buy or to rent in their own communities so they can live and work locally. We are using the planning, property and taxation systems to achieve this, with the increase in the maximum council tax premiums which councils can charge being just one part of a package of measures to tackle this issue.
"We are also committed to publishing a Property and Fair Rents white paper to include proposals for a right to adequate housing, the role rent controls could have in making the private rental market affordable for local people on local incomes and new approaches to making homes affordable."
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