Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children – in the Senedd at 2:29 pm on 20 September 2017.
Thank you. Well, I would hope that if you get letters from experts, you use their expertise. I think that all I’m trying to say is that, obviously, they have that expertise to offer, and they do have an open door towards speaking to you.
I wanted to move on to housing. I’ve been talking about social housing quite a lot recently. I wanted to ask a question in relation to updating homes that are currently in private hands, but are going into disrepair. It’s something that we could be utilising much more to increase our stock on a local level. I know that you have the Houses into Homes scheme, loans for people to update their properties, and that local councils have empty dwelling management orders in relation to taking those properties in in a cohesive way. I’m wondering if you could give us an update on those particular schemes, and tell us how many private homes have, therefore, been taken over in this way or updated from the loan structures, so that we can add to the stock that we need here in Wales to build those homes, and to try and take away from some of the eyesores on our streets, which are animating people’s everyday lives, because they see them in disrepair, every day, and we really need to get those houses into proper homes, so that people in our communities can utilise them to the best effect.