Policy Transfer and Part 2 of the Housing Act (Wales) 2014

Abstract

Part 2 of the Housing Act (Wales) 2014 and its implementation has been keenly observed by governments outside of Wales, as they continue to search for policy solutions to help address the homelessness crisis. This article examines the extent to which there has been policy transfer from Wales to other national contexts and the potential for such transfer to occur in the future. It is identified that some transfer has already taken place within the UK and there is the potential for future policy transfer both within the UK and internationally. Adaptation to each of the new contexts is necessary to underpin successful transfer of provisions of the Act; however, outside of the UK this will need to be more extensive and include the introduction of a right to housing.

Making the Prevention of Homelessness a Priority: The Role of Social Innovation

“…Central to this legislation is the notion of a “duty to assist,” whereby local authorities, if they become aware that a person is at risk of, or is experiencing homelessness, have a duty to offer assistance, and if accepted, to make efforts to remedy the situation within 56 days. Similar legislation has since been passed by the British government, and there is potential for policy transfer elsewhere, including Canada (Wilding et al 2020).…”

Homelessness Prevention Policy in an International Context: The Housing Act (Wales) 2014

“…Although it is accepted that welfare regimes impact on the nature, scale and causes of homelessness (see Stephens et al, 2010;Bramley and Fitzpatrick, 2017), it should be noted that international comparisons are difficult due to differences in contexts: for example, social values embedded in political cultures (Fitzpatrick and Stephens, 2014) and different causes and types of homelessness (Fitzpatrick et al, 2012). There are therefore limits to conventional welfare regime analysis when attempting to explain/ understand national responses to homelessness among marginalised groupsan issue addressed further in Wilding et al (2019).…”

UK Abortion Law: Reform Proposals, Private Members’ Bills, Devolution and the Role of the Courts

“…There were 16,458 such abortions in 2017, increased significantly from 12,834 in 2016 and 12,642 in 2015. 84 This means that the option of abortion would be removed by this Bill from thousands of women in England and Wales each year. These women would thus have to continue a pregnancy which represented, in the wording of the Act, a 'risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family'.…”

“…83 Major interventions and changes to homelessness law have been made in Wales and Scotland. Wales has focused on homelessness prevention, creating prevention duties and help to secure accommodation; 84 Scotland has abolished priority need. 85 The 2017 Act was, in fact, designed to build on both Welsh and Scottish legislative interventions (and, in Wales' case, does so explicitly).…”