Can I start by thanking the Welsh Conservatives for bringing forward this motion, as, undoubtedly, affordable housing generally, and tackling homelessness in particular, are amongst the biggest issues I think that are facing our country today? Whilst the motion is primarily around house building, I’d like to widen my contribution to focus on the causes of homelessness and possible ways of tackling that problem, of which building affordable homes is one.

Within that, like others, I clearly welcome the commitment from the Welsh Government to build 20,000 new affordable homes by the end of this Assembly, a commitment that I know remains resolute. Contrast that, if you will, to the Tories in England. Their flagship pledge at the time of the launch of their manifesto was that they would build a new generation of social housing, but, within weeks, we witnessed yet another Theresa May weak and wobbly u-turn, with her housing Minister admitting that planned homes would actually be of the significantly less affordable type. Ironic, then, in terms of this motion. Well, possibly. But that’s not the real irony, as far as I’m concerned. When we hear Conservative Members speaking in this Chamber about housing and around problems of homelessness, I wonder when they’re going to have the honesty to acknowledge that their Westminster Government’s austerity measures are a key factor in exacerbating the problems of homelessness in Wales and across the whole of the UK as, incidentally, is the legacy of Thatcher’s Government’s right-to-buy policy that Lee Waters referred to, which decimated social housing stock across the whole of the UK, and from which, 30 years ago or not, we have still not recovered. Those austerity measures that I referred to include the insidious bedroom tax, with the devastating impact on many low-income families. And should the Tories be re-elected tomorrow, we’ll see caps on local housing allowances, which will adversely affect those, particularly, under the age of 35.

Llywydd, only two weeks ago, everyone in this Chamber joined me in condemning the disgraceful practice of landlords offering property rent free or at nominal sums in return for sexual favours, but it is the Westminster Tory policies that are creating an environment where this flourishes. In Wales, at present, nearly 0.25 million people are claiming housing benefits, of which 100,000 are housing association tenants. For those in the greatest need, it is almost certain that the current level of benefits will not cover the cost of rents and service charges, placing the most vulnerable in our society at risk of becoming homeless. So, 20,000 new affordable homes here in Wales would be a significant development, and a Westminster Labour Government after tomorrow, which would reverse the Tory benefit cuts, would help the plight of those facing the prospect of homelessness.

But we also need to address what we can do to help those who are already homeless. As I’ve mentioned before, I spent some time over the winter helping at the night shelter in Merthyr Tydfil, and that brought home to me very starkly the cycle of despair into which the homeless can often fall. With no fixed address, it is very hard to gain employment, and even for those able to gain employment and able to put aside enough to rent a property, the very fact of their homeless status means that many prospective landlords are unwilling to accept bond payments from them and they are generally unable to provide a guarantor for their tenancy. One solution to this particular problem could be the greater use of the Government or local authority acting as the guarantor of last resort for such tenancies—a scheme that I know has operated successfully in some parts of the country. I’m pleased that the Cabinet Secretary recently joined me in applauding the initiative by Merthyr Valleys Homes in trialling the use of shipping containers for conversion into temporary accommodation: something that, perhaps, other local authority areas could also look at.

And then, of course, there are examples from other countries—David Melding did touch on that—of innovative approaches to tackling housing shortages that we should look at and give serious consideration to. In France, there is the IGLOO approach, and I assure you that’s not about building ice houses. That’s an initiative developed by representatives of social housing federations, social integration groups and trade unions, looking specifically at the provision of housing for vulnerable and excluded households. In Finland, a rare example of a European country where homelessness has decreased, there is ‘housing first’, which is a staircase model, supporting the transition of people from the street to night shelter, to hostel, to transitional housing units and then into their own independent accommodation.

So, in conclusion, deputy Llywydd, let’s of course have the discussions about the need for new affordable homes, but rather than getting bogged down on the methodology of just calculating the numbers needed, let’s also commit to tackling the underlying causes of our housing problems.