Welsh Government have launched a Green Paper consultation as they want to know your thoughts, as single parents on what a good quality, affordable home looks like.

Single Parents Wellbeing are partnering with TPAS CYMRU, to find out what is really going on in the private rented sector and get your voice heard.

Are you a private renter? Are you paying too much for your rent? Does your home meet your needs? We are here to listen! We want to encourage the right changes, but we need to know your experiences to do so.

There are various options when it comes to renting a home in Wales. You can rent from a social landlord, such as a housing association or a local authority; this is classed as social housing. Or you can rent from a private landlord, usually through a letting agent. 

Help to Buy- Wales

As mentioned in the introduction, Help to Buy in Wales is different to England. In England, you can get a house up to £600k on Help to Buy and in Wales, it has just been changed from £300k to £250k. Help to Buy is an equity loan and you can borrow up to 20% of the market value of a new home.

The challenge of affording suitable housing as a single parent is endless. All too often we are trapped in a cycle of trying to earn enough to get a mortgage and trying not to earn too much that you will lose the Universal Credit support towards your rent; never mind the waiting lists that we face to move into social housing. Ok, now I have finished ranting, ill move to the positives, there are in fact many initiatives in Wales that we can access as single parents, it is simply knowing about them.

Even before this pandemic research consistently showed that single parents are likely to experience loneliness and isolation. Loneliness and isolations has always been a big issue for single parents and something that is brought up over and over again with SPW members.