Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. My debate is about the very important issue of rented housing and why we need rent controls. I've agreed to give a minute of my time to David Melding and nobody else has indicated that they want to speak.

Good, affordable housing is the cornerstone of a decent society. Housing is too important to the population's health and well-being to be left to market forces alone. We cannot allow a rampant free market to condemn generation rent to expensive, insecure low-quality housing. Housing is being used as an advancement opportunity, rather than a place for people to live, and this is fuelled by politicians who keep on talking about getting on the housing ladder, as if it is a nirvana we all need to aim for. I've got no problem with people wanting to own their own homes, but it is not, in itself, an essential requirement for happiness and success. It's our job, as legislators, to deliver prosperity for all and to protect those who are less able to protect themselves, and we urgently need firm action to change the dysfunctional housing market, which is condemning generation rent to permanent insecurity and instability, and distorting our economy.

Social housing is insufficient to meet demand and new tenancies are now mainly confined to people with protected characteristics. But the first rung on this hypothetical housing ladder is beyond the reach of the majority of my constituents. I accept that the picture in Cardiff is not the same as across the wholes of Wales, where, happily, a mere 15 per cent are in private rented accommodation, but in my demographically young constituency, it is in danger of becoming the dominant position, with all the insecurity and instability that that involves. While local authorities do their bit to close down properties that are not fit for human habitation, there's an almost complete lack of consumer protection for private renters.

Complaining about disrepair often leads to eviction and many tenants instead put up with appalling conditions. That doesn't mean that there are not good landlords who maintain their properties promptly and effectively, but the tenant has no right to remain and no reason needs to be given for ending a tenancy. It's that instability of renting that is so damaging for well-being. No roots can be put down, no certainty about schools or jobs that a family can count on. Each tenancy ending means finding at least a month's deposit, more agency fees, unpredictable rent increases and moving costs. It doesn't need to be like this.

Before 1989, private rented sector rents were determined by the Valuation Office Agency, and the VOA set a fair level of rent for the property and calculated by how much that amount could increase. This provided certainty for both tenants and landlords, but the Housing Act 1988, at a stroke, moved Britain from one of the most forcefully regulated of private renting in the world to the most de-regulated, uncontrolled system in the developed world. Since 1989, landlords in Britain have been allowed to charge tenants what they think the market will bear. Unfortunately, the only de facto rent control that has been introduced is a cap on housing benefits, which has just given rocket boosters to the already unacceptable levels of instability.