Nearly 10,000 waiting for social housing in Cardiff amid ‘unprecedented’ demand
Kieran Molloy, Local Democracy Reporter
Nearly 10,000 people are on the waiting list for council housing in the Welsh capital, while just 351 properties were recorded as empty at the start of September.
According to a freedom of information (FOI) request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cardiff council would need almost 30 times as many empty council homes to match the number of live applications.
The FOI request revealed that, as of 1 September, 2026, the number of empty council houses belonging to the council is only 351.
This is broken down to three bedsits, 172 one-bedroom properties, 107 two-bedroom homes, 47 three-bedroom residences, and 22 four-bedroom houses.
As of 1 September the number of people on the council’s housing list is 9,671, which is more than 27 times the number of empty homes.
All together, counting both occupied and unoccupied homes, the number of council houses owned by the council is 14,428.
An empty or “void” property is a council home that is currently unoccupied between tenancies or temporarily unavailable for letting due to inspections, repair, maintenance, adaptation, redevelopment, or other necessary work.
The definition also includes newly-completed homes that have been handed over to the council’s housing team and are awaiting final tenancy sign-up arrangements and occupation by a new tenant.
As a result the headline figure of only 351 empty homes includes properties at different stages of being used.
A council spokesman said: “The figure of 351 void properties represents a snapshot in time and includes a significant number of newly-completed homes that have only recently been handed over to housing services.
“Of these 83 are newly-built general needs homes and a further 77 are newly-built community living and extra care homes.
“As part of the handover and letting process newly-completed homes are recorded as voids until all final checks have been completed and tenants are able to move in. In many cases prospective tenants have already been identified and homes are progressing through the final stages of allocation and sign-up.
“The current figure therefore reflects a period of substantial delivery of new council housing, with many of these homes expected to become occupied shortly.
“This demonstrates the council’s continued investment in increasing the supply of affordable housing across the city rather than homes remaining empty for extended periods.
“Other properties are undergoing reconfiguration works to create larger family-sized homes, while some form part of wider redevelopment schemes and are scheduled for demolition.
“The remaining 170 properties are progressing through the council’s standard void works process and require varying levels of inspection, repair, redecoration, and compliance work before they can be re-let.
“The council’s priority is to return properties to use as quickly as possible while ensuring they are safe, compliant, and suitable for incoming tenants.
“Many properties recorded as voids are therefore actively progressing through these processes and are not simply standing empty awaiting occupation.”
Additionally the council said the city is experiencing “unprecedented demand for social housing” and it is aiming to tackle this issue through the construction of more than 4,000 new homes, 1,900 of which have already been delivered.
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Housing Associations own the remainder of social housing in Cardiff Only c 26k in total Woefully short of demand . There are developments ongoing i,e Cardiff Living etc Direct building by H. As but the market relies heavily on private devleopers building social housing through the planning system and handing over to Housing Assocations . Housebuilders are currently on the backfoot The housing market is poor . Building and finance costs have inceased and they have stalled. Robert Jenrick hasn’t helped In a post Grenfell world he was Minister for Housing He failed to resolve the recladding crisis which has… Read more »
The ‘legacy’ has nothing whatsover to do with Jenrick but fundamentally the social housing crisis is a direct result of the Thatcher sell off of council homes and the complete failure of successive governments of all stripes to back the sector properly, to act as guarantor for local authorities to take on the long term loans necessary to build the social homes needed. Similar funding arrangements were in place for the post WW2 construction of local authority housing at no cost to the taxpayer and there is no reason why this funding method could not be adopted again.
Well of course historically the Thatcher council house sell off impacted on the provision of social housing Cardiff though has kept a stock whilst many others handed over totally to Housing Aassocations A huge structural change Now mainly having to rely on private housebuiders to provide social housing by proxy thru the planning system Yet Jenricks has left his own legacy . His failure to deal with the recladding crisis post Grenfell has everything to do with the fact that housebuilders have taken the foot off the accelerator & downed tools This has impacting directly on new proviison of social… Read more »
As the social housing stock increases there needs to be a shift in how it’s communicated to avoid the next extremist government forcing another sell off. We regularly hear about total and per household council debt as though it’s a failure that needs to be eradicated without any context in terms of how much is funding new residential housing and repayments are covered by social rents without any cost to taxpayers.