Julie James: Certainly.
Julie James: Yes, we do have some evidence. The numbers are problematic, because we do them in spot checks and we do them in rough-sleep accounts. And we know, for example, that it's very difficult to get women in rough-sleep accounts. We know that because they tend to walk all night and sleep in the day because it's safer and so on. So, the numbers are problematic. We do have data. We have got...
Julie James: I have looked at the figures, and you are, very neatly, avoiding the point that your Government has repeatedly refused to allow council houses to be built using the proceeds of the sale of council houses. [Interruption.] You diminished the supply. I was also in London 40 years ago—40 years ago was when the Thatcher Government came in and decimated the supply of social housing. So, there is...
Julie James: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and it's a real pleasure to have the opportunity to talk about the role that co-operative and community-led housing can have in meeting the housing needs of our communities here in Wales. All types of community-led housing, including co-operative housing, can empower Welsh citizens and provide locally driven housing solutions for local communities. I've...
Julie James: And I think Mike Hedges hit the nail on the head, actually: there's a sort of misapprehension about what it means. But I've actually visited a west side apartment in New York that's a co-operative, and it looked like a penthouse to me, is all I can say. So, I do think there's a misconception—he's quite right about that. What it also does is it allows us to drive different models and types...
Julie James: I'm so sorry, Mark; I didn't see you.
Julie James: I welcome that intervention. I'll just finish the thought I was having, which was basically I'm keen to ensure community-led housing groups can access capital funding of whatever sort. So, if you're aware of groups that want capital funding of that sort, even if we haven't got a bespoke fund, it’s worth getting in touch, because I'm very keen to support them in partnership with an RSL or...
Julie James: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. This statement provides details of the trial of a new scheme aimed at increasing the housing stock available to local authorities in discharging their housing duties, and, more particularly, their Part 2 Housing (Wales) Act 2014 duties. Local authorities' discharge of these duties has done much to prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless....
Julie James: Thank you. As usual, David, we agree about much more than we disagree about. So, I completely agree with you that we need to have a better relationship with the private rented sector. Part of that will be of course bringing into force our new Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, which does give people longer security of tenure anyway, just in the normal private rented sector. But this is an...
Julie James: Yes, again, I largely agree with the premise of your questions. So, just to be really clear, what we're asking them to do is accept the local housing allowance as rent in return for a guarantee of that rent without voids or any other detriment across a five-year period. We know from conversations with the Residential Landlords Association and other landlords through Rent Smart Wales that...
Julie James: Thank you for that series of questions, Mike, and, again, I'd broadly agree with the thrust of your questions. So, just to do that last one first, the scheme that Lee Waters is promoting to bring houses back into beneficial use means that you have to live in it yourself for five years in order not to lose the grant. What this is doing is allowing you to rent it out through this scheme, so...
Julie James: Well, thank you for that, David Rowlands. You made two points that I think require an answer—one of which was made by Mike Hedges and I neglected to mention it, which is the issue about the supply of social housing across Wales. You will know that since the removal of the cap on the housing revenue accounts in local government, not quite a year ago now, we've worked very hard with local...
Julie James: Certainly. Our housing priorities for Pembrokeshire are the same as for all of Wales. I want to see far more much-needed social housing built in truly mixed communities, homelessness being proactively addressed, decarbonisation being tackled, and market housing that is of good size and quality.
Julie James: Yes. Paul Davies will know that we've been really working very hard to build a lot more social homes in Wales; it's been a significant priority for this First Minister to accelerate both the pace and scale of social home building. At the moment, most social homes in Wales are built by registered social landlords because, as he will know, there were restrictions on the housing revenue accounts...
Julie James: Certainly. Permitted development rights are an important tool to remove minor developments from the need for planning permission. They allow local planning authorities to concentrate on larger, more complex applications that create homes and jobs.
Julie James: Yes, I certainly would. I'm not aware of it, and if Darren Millar wants to write to me with specific details, I'm very happy to look into that. I don't know the specifics, so I can't really comment, but in general permitted development rights are only available where there is already a residential or other structure that carries the permitted development rights with it. They wouldn't normally...
Julie James: Yes, I accept the point that he makes. Unfortunately, we do have a large range of houses that were built under those circumstances that then are fairly rapidly sold on as open private market housing, and the issue is how we can get a balance to do that. I've been very keen to explore with councils from across Wales how we can get more social housing into those areas. I'm very keen that young...
Julie James: No, I wouldn't agree with that at all. I stand by what I said. I said they were in danger of creating the slums of the future. If you have an estate of houses that has no infrastructure available to it, where people have to drive to work, where the houses are poorly built, and, frankly, we've seen examples of that from the big house builders across Wales, where not even the most routine of...
Julie James: Well, again, we can find some areas of agreement and some areas of disagreement in those remarks, David Melding. So, recently I met with one of the very biggest house builders; we had a full and frank exchange. I've just had a letter back off them thanking me for the very positive meeting and indications of the way that we can go forward together with this ambition. And I think you share my...
Julie James: So, I'm afraid the headline of the article that you've obviously read is rather misleading. If you go on to read what I actually said, the headline isn't quite it. What I said was, when we have built enough social homes in Wales, when any person in Wales who wants a socially rented home can rock up to a council and say, 'I would like to rent from you, please' and they can show you a portfolio...
