Which allows us to move to our next item, the short debate in the name of Dawn Bowden. I call on Dawn Bowden to move the motion. Dawn Bowden. 

Diolch, Llywydd. My topic for this debate relates to a subject that I know is close to the heart of Members across this Chamber, and that is housing. More specifically, I want to propose that this National Assembly should consider making a national commitment to the fundamental principle that every one of us should have a human right underpinned by law to access adequate housing. 

I'll present the debate in three parts, if I may. Firstly, the reasons why I believe a right to adequate housing is important; secondly, to consider the ways in which such a right might be framed by Welsh legislation; and finally, to draw some of my conclusions. I've granted a minute of my time to both David Melding and Mike Hedges, and I'm thankful for the cross-party interest being shown in this debate, as was shown in the question to Ministers last week. 

In March of this year, I wrote a piece for the Welsh Fabians stating that a safe, warm home is key to personal well-being and the lack of such security is damaging to many people in our communities. Establishing a legal right to adequate housing could, in my view, take us forward in the journey to address this concern.

So, first, let me set out the reasons why I believe that establishing such a right is important. At this point, can I immediately thank those organisations and people who've recently brought this subject to the fore for debate, including Tai Pawb, the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru, Shelter Cymru and Dr Simon Hoffman of Swansea University? Indeed, my interest in this idea was sparked by a short article by Dr Hoffman that was published in the journal Welsh Housing Quarterly in July of last year. I’m pleased that I was represented recently at an initial discussion around this idea, hosted by Tai Pawb, actually in the autumn of 2018.

In today’s debate, I now seek to build on my early interest, and to follow up on the feasibility report that was launched in the Pierhead building last week. I can see a number of benefits from establishing such a right. At its most simple level, it would provide a legal framework to the action that’s needed to provide that most basic human right. I'm reflecting article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the right to a home.

Since my election to this Assembly in 2016, I've felt enormous frustration at the range and depth of housing problems in so many of our communities. In Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, as elsewhere, I see the problems that arise from a lack of housing opportunities, the problems of homelessness, and the ways in which too much housing is unaffordable for too many people. In truth, I believe it's a scale of problem that successive generations have allowed to develop, and much of that is a reflection of the failure in the market.

Given the depth and complexity of the problems we're now seeking to address, I do in truth find it easy to become somewhat disheartened about housing, so a positive idea for housing rights is very welcome. I know that the Welsh Government has consistently taken a range of very welcome measures to address many housing issues, and these include: investment to improve housing quality standards; investment in more affordable homes; legislation to regulate landlords; adopting a housing first response; action against the exploitation of private sector renters; funds for innovative construction; the removal of the right to buy; and the review of housing supply, to which I know the Minister will soon reply in this Chamber. And colleagues will recall that I have supported calls to tackle the crime of sex-for-rent; I support the recent call made in this Chamber to scrap the Vagrancy Act 1824; and support the removal of section 21 in Wales, the no-fault evictions that I hope the Welsh Government will soon act upon. And while these can all be seen as important, they are incremental responses to some of the many issues that we face.

So, I believe that the persistent, deep-rooted and erosive nature of our housing problems now require us to consider a new framework for action. I believe that establishing a right to adequate housing is a way of overcoming that incremental and fragmented approach that I've described. It would provide a new underpinning of law that can drive policy and cultural change, and deliver more effective responses. More effective responses that can turn around one of the many key determinants of our prospects in life—a safe, warm home. And I believe that we must also consider the extent to which legal redress should be part of that package of rights. Indeed, I'm sure that when we come to scrutinise a legislative proposal on this matter, it is the issue of legal redress that will demand most careful examination.

The authors of the feasibility report on the right to adequate housing in Wales frame the access to legal redress in the context of the tragedy of Grenfell Tower. For me, that helps to provide a real understanding of what this part of the debate entails. Because, given that we are all now learning about the history of that tragedy, we can perhaps reflect that if the residents had a right to adequate housing and legal redress to their issues through the court process, then the situation may have been different.

I now move to the second part of my debate, and I’ll set out some of important considerations in establishing the legal right to adequate housing. For this section of the debate, I'd like to draw extensively on the work of Dr Simon Hoffman, who I referenced earlier in my contribution. In this Chamber, I believe that we are familiar with human rights and the way in which they underpin our rights as citizens. The recent feasibility report on this right highlights the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which includes, amongst other things, the right to adequate housing as I've already mentioned. So, the question arises as to how we might incorporate such a right in Welsh law. 

Now, at this point, I believe it's worth noting that in the policy and legislative context of Wales, we are already very familiar with a rights-based approach. Perhaps the most notable for me has been the work in respect of the rights of children and young persons. Those were incorporated into Welsh law via the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011. Through this Measure, we know that Welsh Ministers have to pay due regard to the specific human rights of children and young people. This is, of course, an example of the indirect incorporation of human rights treaties, as Government Ministers are not fully bound by them, but must pay due regard to these rights. And that differs in approach to direct incorporation, which is the way the UK dealt with the Human Rights Act 1998. 

In the case of direct incorporation, it often means an individual can use their human rights to seek justice in a British court. The recent feasibility report also highlights sectoral incorporation, which means rights are incorporated in specific policy areas. Once again, Wales has experience of this through the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. So, incorporation of rights can be direct, indirect or sectoral. And incorporation is important, because it brings these human rights into our national legal framework. Following incorporation, Governments and public bodies can be held accountable through a number of mechanisms, including complaints, commissions and commissioners. Such an approach, of course, underpins the work of the Children's Commissioner for Wales.

So, what is the right that we would seek to incorporate in relation to adequate housing? Well, as I've said, it is set out in article 11(1) of the covenant on economic, social and cultural rights, and includes, and I quote, hence the gender-specific language, 

'the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing'.

The UN committee has further defined this as a right to live in peace, security and dignity, and this helps to frame housing as being of fundamental importance to humanity. 

There is an important point I should make at this stage, and that is: incorporating this legal right does not require Government to provide housing for all. As Ali from Tai Pawb wrote:

'There is a popular misconception that the right to adequate housing means that the government has to build a home for every citizen. This is of course a myth, it is more about supporting social progress, with special focus on those most disadvantaged'—  what she describes as 'progressive realisation'. But it would require a clear enabling strategy that can progressively address housing problems. Indeed, the sponsors of the recent feasibility report support the idea of taking a mixed approach to the incorporation of the right to adequate housing. That is, they believe there should be both direct and indirect incorporation, so that there is a strong proactive framework for a right to housing in policy making, but also the right to enforcement if that right is breached. I have little doubt that this is part of the debate that needs the most careful examination.

Indeed, I would hope that the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee might hold an initial inquiry to take evidence on these issues in advance of the 2021 Assembly elections. Such evidence could consider international experience within the context of this debate. We can read that Canada has taken this approach with a national housing strategy that commits to approaching housing as a human right. Norway is also making progress with a rights-based approach. Such evidence sessions would help to inform decisions to be made in respect of the sixth term of the Assembly, as I'm not sure there's time for such important legislation, unfortunately, in this Assembly term. But such evidence would also help the Minister, who I know has already expressed both her interest in and willingness to look at this issue, when she spoke in the recent event at the Pierhead building. And as I'm not a lawyer, such evidence would help further improve my understanding of the range of implications of such a law.

So, let me conclude on this point. After this debate, I'll travel to my home in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, and at the end of a long, busy day, that thought provides me with some comfort. I return to familiar personal objects, to some security and safety, and I'll have warmth if that is required. But I also recognise that, in 2019, in spite of all this nation's wealth, this is not the case for all our fellow citizens in Wales, which leads me to conclude, for the reasons I've set out in this debate, that it is now time to consider the right to a statutory right to adequate housing, to improve the prospects that in Wales we can meet a citizen's right to that most basic of needs, a home.

So, I return to where I started, and I propose that this National Assembly should consider making a national commitment to the fundamental principle that every one of us should have a human right underpinned by law to access adequate housing. 

Can I commend Dawn's enthusiasm and the clear way she set out the case for the recognition of housing as a basic human right, and, in this context, the right to adequate hosing being a central principle in which we organise public policy? It would fit very naturally, when we're looking at the most severe need, our housing first policy, for instance, where we're helping those people who have lives that are very, very challenging and often chaotic for a whole host of reasons and are roofless. This type of concept I think would shape the type of approach we want to see to help those people, but also, then, those that are victims or likely to fall into homelessness.

This is the way, I think, of forging a new consensus, which existed between our great parties after the second world war that housing was there with health and education as something every citizen should be able to rely on as something they will receive, and, of course, in receiving it it should be of an adequate standard. I really commend also civic society and the groups that Dawn referred to in pushing this case, holding that event in the Pierhead. I know the Welsh Government is looking at this very seriously and is sympathetic. I can assure you the Conservative Party is as well. I think this is an idea whose time has come. So, congratulations and thank you, Dawn.

Firstly, I want to say 'thank you' to Dawn Bowden for giving me a minute of her time. It's strange, really, because David Melding, Dawn and I quite often speak on housing and often our speeches are interchangeable.

After sustenance, housing is the next human need. I want to highlight inadequate housing. The 1950s and 1960s saw large-scale slum clearance and large-scale council house building providing housing for people like my family as we moved from privately rented housing. A large number of houses previously privately rented were bought by individuals to be their home. We have now seen many of these bought, some in very large numbers, by individuals often living many miles away to be rented out. I cannot see any way of dealing with inadequate housing except by large-scale council house building. We should also see an increase in the number owning their homes as currently privately rented properties will return to owner occupation. It is not serendipity that the time of a large increase in council housing coincided with a large increase in owner occupation.

The Deputy Minister to reply to the debate—Jane Hutt.

Diolch, Llywydd. This is a very important subject and very timely. This is both the centenary year of the Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1919, commonly known as the Addison Act, but also, as Dawn Bowden has said, the recent second anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire. So, I very much welcome the fact that we are debating this this afternoon. The Addison Act has historic importance to this debate, as it was the first recognition that central Government had a role to play in supporting provision of housing for the working class, and of the link between poor housing and poor health. The importance of the Grenfell fire to this debate is that it has come to represent a failure of the system to listen to and act to protect those in need in society. 

In my oral statement on 11 June, I updated Members on the work that the Welsh Government is undertaking to advance and strengthen equality and human rights in Wales. In these times of uncertainty and continuing austerity, the costs of which falls disproportionately on those least able to bear them, the refuge and sanctuary provided by the place we call home becomes evermore important. The Welsh Government has a clear commitment to promoting and protecting human rights. It's embedded in our founding legislation. It runs through everything this Government seeks to do.

You will be aware that we're seeking to introduce a new distinctly Welsh approach to promoting and safeguarding equality, social justice and human rights. We do so, of course, within the scope of our legal competence. The actions we take must be compatible with international obligations, as set out in section 82 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. These obligations include the seven UN conventions signed and ratified by the UK state party. Section 81 of the Government of Wales Act also requires the Welsh Government to act compatibly with the European convention on human rights, as reflected in our domestic law by the Human Rights Act 1998. We're fully engaged in the UN reporting process and welcome and value scrutiny, feedback and guidance from the UN committees. In its 1966 covenant, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognised that, to afford citizens an adequate standard of living, they needed to have access to adequate housing as well as adequate food, clothing and continuous improvement of living conditions. And those state parties, including the United Kingdom, which ratified and adopted the covenant, agreed with this sentiment when they signed up to it.

Whilst it may seem strange that the United Kingdom's Government has, as yet, to incorporate the covenant into domestic law, that shouldn't prevent us from working in the spirit of the covenant here in Wales. Allowing the continuance of insecurity and indignity being suffered by those without access to housing or to housing that's adequate for their needs should be, as a civilised society, and must be a concern to us all. This Government's commitment to the fundamental principle that every one of us has a right to access adequate and sustainable housing is central to the aspirations we are seeking to achieve, and it is good to see the cross-party consensus that is expressed here again, but often expressed in this Chamber, as we debate this important issue.

So, in the Welsh Government's national strategy 'Prosperity for All', we've recognised housing as a key priority, stating categorically that we understand the role of a good-quality affordable home in bringing a wide range of benefits to well-being, health, learning and prosperity. The Government is committed to delivering new social housing and to do so at scale and pace. We understand the key role that social housing can play in ensuring that families and individuals can access good-quality affordable homes that can be their springboard to secure successful futures. Social housing requires a greater level of Government subsidy, but this must be a priority for us, supporting those where our investment can have the greatest impact. We've made a record investment of £1.7 billion in housing during this Assembly term. This is a significant sum, which is having a huge impact on the delivery of social housing.

I'm very grateful also for Mike Hedges's contribution this afternoon to this in terms of tackling housing need and the importance of social housing. Of course, social housing provides not only quality homes but also the support needed to ensure that people can sustain their tenancies and thrive, and that's why Wales has never moved away from support for social housing since it came into being. In fact, in England, delivery of homes for social rent has dropped 81 per cent since 2010.

Further to this, we have our innovative housing programme and integrated care fund. Again, a lot of cross-party consensus; particularly David Melding welcoming that. They, of course, have supported the construction of at least 1,300 homes, helping to deliver on these ambitions. There are ongoing challenges in delivering the number of homes required for both the market and affordable housing sectors, but we are taking steps here in Wales to deliver the homes we need, and we remain confident that, with the help of our partners, we will reach our 20,000 affordable homes target during this Assembly term.

But it's not just the number of homes we build but how we ensure they are of high quality, and here our investment in the Welsh housing quality standard ensures that many of our most vulnerable people live in decent homes, and those homes also need to meet the needs of future generations and be near zero carbon, helping the environment and lifting households out of fuel poverty. And that's why we have set out significant ambitions to drive forward decarbonisation across all tenures of existing housing stock. The Welsh Government has also recognised the importance of ensuring Wales's housing law is fit for the future through the coherent and comprehensive updating of housing law. The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 commencement introduced groundbreaking improvements for prevention of homelessness, providing for the registration and licensing of private rented sector landlords and agents via Rent Smart Wales. In addition, implementation of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, simplifying and clarifying contractual arrangements, and the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019, will reduce the cost to tenants when renting a home privately, particularly at the outset.

Dawn's point that access to adequate housing should be recognised as a human right goes beyond just our national boundary, and as such raises issues under the devolution settlement. I'm pleased to be responding to this with my ministerial responsibility for strengthening equality and human rights, and to work with you to take this forward. We're acting to make Wales fairer, beginning with commencing the socioeconomic duty to recognise the impact of poverty in relation to other aspects of equality. In line with this, we're taking forward work to explore options to safeguard equality and human rights in Wales, but we're also commissioning research to explore wider options, and we can take this on board in terms of that research. We will be including how we incorporate the convention on the rights of disabled people and other international agreements into Welsh law, and we have engaged with Professor Hoffman in this respect.

We will take an inclusive approach with regard to protected characteristics, drawing on all available evidence, and this very issue has been highlighted in the work commissioned by Tai Pawb, in collaboration with Shelter Cymru and the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru, from Professor Simon Hoffman, associate professor at Swansea University. His feasibility report for the introduction of a right to adequate housing, launched last Tuesday, makes for good reading, powerful reading, and I've no doubt that Julie James will be considering the feasibility study in detail, how it fits in with the work we're already undertaking, and I would hope to reassure Dawn and other Members of the Assembly today that, while waiting for the United Kingdom Government to incorporate formally the United Nations covenant on economic, social and cultural rights into domestic law, we recognise housing as foundational to ensuring the well-being of our citizens. We're also working hard within our devolved responsibilities to reflect these rights in the policies and legislation we've created and will continue to create. Diolch.

That brings our discussions for today to a close. 

The meeting ended at 18:47.