Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, for the opportunity to present a legislative consent motion in relation to the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill. I'd like to thank the Children, Young People and Education Committee and the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee for their scrutiny of these issues in the original memorandum and supplementary memorandum, and I acknowledge...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for that question. It’s good to hear the Welsh housing quality standard mentioned. All local authorities are working towards meeting the Welsh housing quality standard by 2020. All of them have confirmed that they are on track to do that, so I think that’s really positive. I suppose the challenge for Government will be to say, 'Well, what next?' You know, what will be...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you very much for that. I am very, very pleased that the committee is taking a good look at this particular issue, and it is important, because, as we've probably seen through the statement, there are questions, and some of the questions we don't have the answers to yet. For example, that question as to why, even on the coldest of nights, there are empty bed spaces in some of our...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions, and I'm really encouraged that the committee is undertaking a piece of work into rough-sleeping in particular, and looking at homelessness more widely. That's really important because I hope I've been clear that both of the documents that have been published today are live documents. So, I'll be keen to be looking at the recommendations that the committee...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for those questions. Mike Hedges is completely right to point out to us that, actually, when we're talking about homelessness, we're not talking only about rough-sleeping, although that is the most visible part of it. Estimates suggest that there might be 30 people sofa surfing or in other kinds of temporary accommodation for every person who we see sleeping on the...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions. I do think it's important that we keep our eye, both on the preventative side of things but also on the sharp end of homelessness, if you like, in terms of tackling rough-sleeping. Our preventative approach has been very successful. Since the housing Act came into force fewer than two years ago, 13,000 families or 13,000 households have avoided homelessness as...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you very much for those questions and for your welcome of the housing first approach. I certainly recall it was the first question that you asked me about when I came into this portfolio, so I'm glad to be able to be making some progress on this, I think, very much shared agenda of promotion of housing first. We've approved funding for a number of projects and they are with local...
Rebecca Evans: We all need a decent home if we are to realise our potential and enjoy basic well-being. Thousands of households have avoided homelessness through the preventative approach required under our Housing (Wales) Act 2014 legislation, which is the envy of other countries. But we still have much to do. We have all seen people living on the streets, and, clearly, the numbers have grown. Talking to...
Rebecca Evans: Commonhold is a model that I've been looking at, and I've been trying to understand why commonhold hasn't taken off in the past, what have been the barriers to it succeeding previously, and what could be done differently in future as part of that wider context of how to improve leasehold and so on, and freehold, within this particular sector. I'll be developing awareness-raising materials...
Rebecca Evans: The leaseholder should always have the first opportunity to purchase that lease, but it is my concern that, often, the price of the leases are beyond what the leaseholder is able or the home owner is able to pay for that lease, and that's something that I would be looking to explore in the wider context of this debate. But I am really keen to be using all of the tools currently at my disposal...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, and I'm very grateful indeed to Members for bringing forward this cross-party debate today. As Mick Antoniw set out at the very start of the debate, leaseholders have a long history, but I think our debate today has really highlighted how, in recent years, an unscrupulous minority of developers and freeholders have sought to profit from questionable practices. I think that the...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions. I will say that in terms of the timescale involved, all matters to do with RIFW were looked at in a great deal of detail by both the Wales Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee. Those pieces of work in particular spanned several years, and the Welsh Government did accept all of the 17 recommendations made by PAC, and, actually, this legal action does...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. I issued a written statement on 22 January 2018 regarding legal action concerning the regeneration investment fund for Wales. I can confirm that legal proceedings are under way for breach of contract and professional negligence against Amber Fund Management and Lambert Smith Hampton Group Ltd. It would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this stage in those proceedings.
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for raising this important issue, and I'm sorry to hear about the serious anti-social behaviour issues that your constituents have been facing. I met with police and crime commissioner Alun Michael earlier in the week, and his deputy, and they're working together to lead that piece of work, which is developing a resource for all social housing providers, hopefully, subject to the...
Rebecca Evans: Welsh Government is working with Community Housing Cymru, the police, police and crime commissioners and other stakeholders to develop a national approach to tackling anti-social behaviour for use by all social housing providers in Wales.
Rebecca Evans: The way in which the councils generally approach the issue of empty homes tends to be, in the first instance, to try and work with the owner of the property in order to bring that home back into use. But then, if that fails, the empty dwelling management orders are there for local authorities to avail themselves of and I would encourage them to do so if they feel that it is appropriate to do....
Rebecca Evans: Well, this is certainly one of those four areas of a potential future Welsh tax that Welsh Government has been considering and has been subject to a poll undertaken by the Welsh Treasury to understand the views that people might have on this as one of the potential four. Obviously, you wouldn't expect me to make any announcement on the way forward today, because it is still a matter for...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for the question. The issue of empty homes is an issue of concern for the Welsh Government. There have been, as you say, some good projects delivered under our empty homes project in particular, but it is an opportunity, really, to look right across our opportunities for regeneration to see how we can turn, for example, empty shops in our high streets into homes. That's something...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for the question, and almost any discussion I ever have in this portfolio does include the important role of making sure that we hit our 20,000 target for affordable homes. But I'm also really keen to ensure that we do increase the speed and the amount of the development of homes for market sale as well, because we know that we need the whole diverse package in Wales to meet...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for the question. I welcome the ending of the tolls and the benefits that it will bring to Wales. I recognise that this could influence housing demand and prices in the region. I'll be meeting with both Newport and Monmouthshire local authorities to discuss this issue in more detail, and I have already had some early discussions with house builders.
