In the run up to the Senedd election you perhaps would have been forgiven for thinking that housing, planning, and development struggled to cut through as a main ‘battleground’ upon which different political parties sought to persuade the electorate to back them.
However, since forming a government just under two months ago, Plaid Cymru have wasted little time in signalling their direction of travel in this critical policy area. At the crux of Plaid’s approach is the unwavering focus on ensuring everyone has access to a safe, warm home in a vibrant community. Though, it is recognised that this most basic of needs is currently out of reach for thousands of people across Wales.
Amongst other early government priorities, the Party of Wales’ has unveiled its proposal to establish Unnos – a new national housing delivery agency intended to increase the pace and scale of social housing development across Wales. Indeed, this was one of the first major announcements made by the newly appointed Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, Siân Gwenllian MS, highlighting the importance which the government is placing on this issue.
In addition to the establishment of Unnos, the Cabinet Minister’s recent announcement covered a much broader package of housing measures, including a commitment to support the delivery of 20,000 new social homes by 2030, the introduction of legislation to incorporate the Right to Adequate Housing into Welsh law, and bringing forward proposals relating to fair rents.
What is Unnos?
According to the new Plaid Cymru government, Unnos will operate as an arm’s-length national development body with a specific focus on enabling the delivery of more social housing.
Rather than acting solely as a housing developer, the agency is intended to support housing delivery by:
- Assembling land suitable for development.
- Helping to speed up planning consents.
- Developing local and national construction supply chains.
- Working alongside local authorities, registered social landlords and other delivery partners to increase the long-term supply of social homes.
The concept of an arms-length organisation to increase the pace of social housing delivery is not new. It first appeared in Plaid Cymru’s 2021 Senedd manifesto, and subsequently formed part of the Co-operation Agreement between Plaid Cymru and the previous Labour Government. In March 2025, Plaid Cymru published Building a Future: Plaid Cymru’s Vision for Transforming Social Housing Delivery in Wales, setting out how the organisation could support housing delivery through land assembly, strategic planning and improved coordination between public bodies and the construction sector.
The scale of the challenge facing Unnos
The new(ish) Welsh Government has stated that increasing the supply of social housing is central to addressing Wales’ housing crisis.
In her statement to the Senedd, the Cabinet Minister said that the Government intends to work with local authorities and social landlords to support the delivery of 20,000 new social homes by 2030. She also confirmed that a key remit for Unnos will be to help increase the supply of new social housing over the longer term by working with key partners and supporting the development and planning processes.
However, the question remains whether Unnos, and Plaid’s housing and development policy commitments more generally, will be successful in addressing the chronic shortage of social housing in Wales.
According to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request published in mid-2025, over 94,000 (1 in 14) Welsh households were on the housing waiting list. This equates to around 170,000 people, including 45,000 children according to Shelter Cymru’s analysis of the data. Shelter Cymru also concluded that based on current delivery rates, it would take more than 35 years to offer a social home to everyone in Wales who is waiting for one.
The scale of the challenge for Unnos is therefore significant, and questions should rightly be asked as to whether the target of 20,000 new social homes by 2030 is either attainable, or indeed bold enough.
How will Unnos bring about change & looking ahead
The announcement of the establishment of Unnos so early in the new Senedd term is, at the very least, a clear signal of intent from the new Plaid Government. Extending its remit across delivery, land assembly, expediting the planning process, and supply chain development are all also equally important, as all levers must be pulled if Wales is to increase its delivery of social housing to the scale required to meet not only existing needs, but future need as well.
However, Plaid’s moves to establish Unnos, as well as its commitments to legislating around the quality of homes and on fair rents, cannot and should not be seen as the entirety of the solution.
What remains to be seen is the extent to which the new Government will seek to create the conditions which will stimulate housing delivery, including social housing, more broadly through wider planning reform. Whether it be addressing out of date local plans, meaningfully kick-starting regional spatial planning, or working with SME and volume developers in the private sector to help them ramp up delivery, the scale and pace which Wales needs to meet in order to begin rectifying its housing shortage means that nothing should be off the table.