Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:33 pm on 15 May 2019.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:33, 15 May 2019

Well, I just don't think it's true to say that we've seen no commitment at all. We have a task and finish group, chaired by Crisis itself, looking at our Housing First pilots. It is the policy of this Government that we roll out Housing First. We have to roll out Housing First in a way that means that we give the right lifeline to people, with the right support around them, in the right way. It's impossible to just replicate the Finnish system. And on the gentleman in question, who featured on a programme on the BBC on Monday, which I'm sure she saw, as did I—I have had no contact with that gentleman, and I'd welcome such contact, but he did not have the policy context for Wales right. One of the issues driving homelessness in Wales is the universal credit system, over which I, unfortunately, have no control. So, we have a system in which we have been praised the world over for our preventative programme in maintaining people in housing. We are continuing to do that. We have managed to hold the tide at 65 per cent of homelessness prevented in Wales. We're working very hard on the rest of it, and, of course, Housing First is our preferred option. You cannot just turn the ship of state around in two weeks and replicate an entire system from Finland. So, we have to make sure that our pilots work, that they reach the most vulnerable, and that we do it properly, so that we get a system that's sustainable and makes homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring, which is obviously the aim of all of us.