A national rally is coming to Machynlleth this September to call for housing rights to be enshrined in law.
The campaign group Cymdeithas yr Iaith/ Welsh Language Society is this year organising the national Nid yw Cymru ar Werth/ Wales is Not for Sale rally in Machynlleth, the seat of the former Welsh parliament, on 14 September at 2pm.
620 years after Owain Glyndŵr called the people of Wales to attend the Senedd in Machynlleth in 1404, the group calls the Senedd to “introduce housing justice for communities” across Wales just days before Owain Glyndŵr day on September 16.
Organising committee member for Cymdeithas yr Iaith Ffred Ffransis said: “This has been a longstanding campaign for community control over housing to create sustainable housing for Welsh communities.
“It’s been especially significant since the pandemic when there was a massive rush of urban people snapping up every rural dwelling on the market, forcing locals out of their own communities.
“People working for vital services now cannot afford homes in their own villages.
“As a result of our campaigning, Cardiff introduced special radical measures to control the spread of second home holiday lets and Airbnb’s taking up housing stock from the market.
“These measures will increase council tax for second homes and create a register for holiday dwellings so local authorities can see how many there are in the area and allow people to require planning permission to create holiday lets.
“These are the successes but they deal with a symptom of the problem, not the cause.
“The cause is the open market in housing.
“We believe the right to a home should be seen in the same way as the right to education and health care are enshrined in law.
“A property act would give community control over housing by creating local housing markets, empowering communities to have control.”
The Saturday will hold a march along Heol Maengwyn to the rally by the Owain Glyndŵr monument outside Y Plas, hearing from speakers including MS Delyth Jewell, Dafydd Morgan Lewis from Welsh Language Society, author Mike Parker, Machynlleth town councillor Alwyn Evans, followed by folk music from Catrin O’Neill and Linda Griffiths.
Elwyn Vaughan, Powys County Councillor for nearby Glantwymyn and member of the Cymdeithas yr Iaith committee said he has seen the problem first hand in his own constituency: “Without a doubt, people are being priced out of their own villages.
“The gap between affordability and the prices being asked for is huge.
“In Machynlleth, there is an obvious shortage of rental properties, the price of housing and the question of the rise in Airbnb properties.
“When there is housing available they are often ridiculous prices compared to local income level.
“In Machynlleth this is exacerbated by having a flood plane at one end of the town and common land around it, restricting sites for building.
“Combining this with the pressure of being a popular town of mixed communities and good railway access, the pressure is huge.”