Greens promise rent controls and £1 bus fares in Welsh election manifesto
The Wales Green Party has promised to introduce rent controls to help bring down living costs as it published its manifesto for the Senedd election.
Welsh leader Antony Slaughter said his party would freeze rent for a year before giving councils powers to apply caps on what tenants pay.
He promised to cap bus fares to £1 for most people, with free travel for under 22s, and to replace council tax.
The party does not expect to form the next Welsh government, but hopes its policies could form part of negotiations when the Senedd decides who will be the next first minister of Wales.
The party, in common with all other party manifestos so far, has not published full costings for its plan. Independent think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the Greens' manifesto was "clearly not a complete, costed plan for government".
Launching his manifesto in Port Talbot, Slaughter declined to say which of any of the party's policies would be a red line in negotiations with other parties hoping to lead the next government, but said that housing was a priority.
The Greens say opinion polls show they are on course to get candidates elected to the Senedd for the first time in the history of Wales' parliament.
Slaughter said the manifesto says how the party will "turn people's lives around and make a better, fairer future for everyone".
"People out there are hurting. People are in despair - people are angry," he said, blaming "decades of exploitation" and "27 years of managed decline" under Welsh Labour.
"That anger is being used to shape something ugly and divisive," he said.
"We acknowledge that anger but we are offering solutions to the problems. We are offering answers to the things that trouble them."
The party said it had several priorities for the Senedd election including:
- scrapping council tax to replace it with a tax based on the value of land, instead of property
- an end to corridor care in hospitals
- £1 bus fares for 22-59 year olds and free bus travel for under-22s
- bring Welsh Water back into public ownership
- universal child care from nine months
- clear goals to protect wildlife
But Slaughter made clear that his housing proposals were the most important in the 43-page document.
"The cost of living crisis is paramount," Slaughter said, which he said "all starts with housing".
"Everyone has a right to a safe, warm, affordable secure home. That isn't the case for so many people. It is so precarious, especially for younger people."
The party said it would introduce a one-year rent freeze, which will be followed by a system that would allow the Welsh government to approve local authority "rent pressure zones".
In the zones rent caps would apply to keep housing affordable
Rent increases will only be permitted "where landlords deliver genuine improvements to homes, particularly upgrades that improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions".
The Greens promise to ban no-fault evictions, where tenants are moved out of properties for no given reason. They are already banned in Scotland and will be banned in England in May.
The party said it would build 60,000 social homes over 10 years.
Earlier a Green candidate, asked if their rent control plans could have unintended consequences such as fewer properties being available, acknowledged there was "obviously a risk".
"We know there is a risk to the sector so that's why a rent freeze is the first step that we would take," Tessa Marshall told BBC Radio Wales.
Slaughter's manifesto promises £1 bus fares for adults aged from 22 to 59, and free travel for people under 22.
The Welsh party leader said the free travel policy would in total cost £59m over three years, while the £1 fare would cost £256m over three years.
Currently 16 to 21 year olds are able to get a single fare for £1.
The Greens also say they would extend universal free school meals to secondary schools - they're currently only in primary schools.
Slaughter said the Greens could make corridor care for more than 24 hours in Welsh hospitals a "never event", which would mean the NHS would need to ensure it never takes place.
Meanwhile the party said it would seek powers to put Welsh Water into special measures - a first step before putting it in public ownership.
The IFS said the manifesto offered a "vision of a bigger state doing more for its citizens".
The organisation's David Phillips said the new entitlements pledged by the Greens would need "substantial increases in taxes or cuts to other services".
Phillips said the party does not spell out what that might mean: "This manifesto may work as an opening gambit for potential negotiations with other parties, but it is clearly not a complete, costed plan for government".
He warned that over the long term rent controls could mean that tenants may struggle to find suitable properties, with evidence of other intended consequences such as poor maintenance and attempts to circumvent regulations such as side payments.
Slaughter later told Channel 4 News that costings would be published "in the near future".
Overall, in the private sector, the average monthly rental price for a two-bedroom property across Wales has risen by 50.7% since January 2015 - from £505 to £761.
In Cardiff, the rise is even more. Back in 2015, that two-bed home would cost you £639, in January this year it stood at £1,063 - a rise of 66%.
The rises outstrip inflation. According to the Bank of England calculator, if the average rental rate back in 2015 was adjusted for inflation over the decade, it would have risen by 39% to £704 - rather than £761, which means renters have been paying £684 more a year in rent.
Again for Cardiff, adjusted for inflation, the rent might have expected to be £891 in January this year. But at £1,063 - that's an additional £172 a month - or £2,064 a year.
The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), which represents thousands of private residential landlords, blames rises on a number of issues.
In a 2024 study by the NRLA, it cites inflation impacts that focused on maintenance and labour costs, and historic interest rates and mortgage bills.
It also claims moving to new rental contracts and conditions brought in in 2022 by the Renting Home (Wales) Act, has also led to rate increases.
Additional reporting by George Herd
