Dwyfor second homes and affordability pilot

Everyone should be able to afford to live in their local area, whether buying or renting a home.
Many communities in Wales have a lot of:

• second homes
• holiday lets
• empty homes

This can lead to less available and affordable housing. It can also affect the Welsh language and the vitality of some communities.

Following the evidence and recommendations of Second Homes: developing new policies in Wales:

• We have changed the way that second homes, short-term holiday lets and empty homes are taxed. This is so that owners make a fairer contribution to the communities where their properties are. Changes that are now in place across Wales and raise significant funds to help local people and communities into housing and out of homelessness.
• We have developed groundbreaking local planning powers, so local authorities can find sustainable solutions to their own housing situations. Cyngor Gwynedd is the first, with our support, to use this new power to introduce an Article 4 Planning Direction, with Eryri National Park soon to follow. Article 4 means that owners need planning permission to change a home into either a second home or a short-term let.
• We are setting up a registration and licensing scheme for all visitor accommodation – including short-term lets.
• We have set up a second homes and affordability pilot in the Dwyfor area of Gwynedd, with staff based locally, to understand the effects of the big steps we’ve taken and to try out new ways of making more affordable homes available to local people.

The pilot is about seeing how the changes we have made are working and trying new ideas to make more affordable homes available for local people.

Dwyfor was chosen as the pilot area because of:

• its geographic size
• the concentration of second homes in communities in the area and
• its importance as an area where Welsh is widely spoken.

We are working with Cyngor Gwynedd, Grwp Cynefin, Adra and Eryri National Park to trial new ways of doing things which will help inform our national approach. 

• Homebuy: Homebuy helps people buy a home in their local area. We have made money available and tailored the national Homebuy approach to fit the housing situation in Dwyfor. We are proud to say that through this new approach, 23 local households have realised the dream of owning their own home. We expect many more this year – if you are local to Dwyfor and need help buying a home then you could be one of them.
• Empty Homes: We gave Cyngor Gwynedd £3 million to help buy empty properties and bring them back into use as affordable homes. £1 million of this was specifically for the Dwyfor area.
• Community Led Housing (CLH): We have supported CLH groups with their projects in the area. These are organisations where residents and communities take the lead in developing, owning and managing their housing. There are now 5 groups leading with their own projects which will provide high quality affordable housing to local people in need. We hope that these groups and projects inspire and grow CLH in other parts of Dwyfor and across Wales.
• Self-Build Wales: We are trying to help local people build their own affordable homes through the Development Bank of Wales’ self-build scheme. This would be a new way of working for the scheme and could unlock its potential.
• We have achieved successes by working differently, with a dedicated pilot team based in the area and close working with local communities and organisations.

We really want to understand how the steps we have taken are working. We want to know if and how they make a difference. 

• We asked experts from Alma Economics and OB3 Research to independently evaluate the pilot from August 2023 to December 2026: See Evaluation of the Second Homes and Affordability Pilot: phase 1 report (2023 to 2024) | GOV.WALES. They will continue to keep a close eye on the situation and share their findings up until their final report in Autumn 2026.
• The pilot team is supporting the evaluation by sharing data and even new analysis so it can see what is going on in the area. If you would like to help the evaluation, then please get in touch: dwyforpilotevaluation@almaeconomics.com