The Labour-run government in Wales promised to build thousands of new social homes for rent by 2026.

But is it on track to meeting this target?

FactCheck takes a look.

Is Labour on track to meet its target?

In 2021, the Labour government in Wales set itself the target to build 20,000 new low-carbon social homes for rent by 2026.

But Julie James, cabinet secretary for housing, local government and planning, said in April of this year that the government was “hanging on” to the 20,000 homes target “by the skin of our teeth”, though she was “determined to hang on to it”.

Using official figures, FactCheck calculates that at the current rate of progress, the Welsh government will miss the 20,000 target – building only 14,000 homes in time.

We calculated this by dividing the 5,775 social homes already built between 2021 and March 2023 to give an average of 2,887 per year.

We then multiplied this by five to project what would happen in the years for which we don’t yet have data. That gives a projected 14,437 social rented homes built by 2026 – more than 5,000 short of Labour’s target.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Our Programme for Government outlines our target to deliver 20,000 additional homes for rent within the social sector this government term and we have invested record levels of funding to support this.”

Welsh Labour was contacted for comment.

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