Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:45 pm on 23 October 2019.
Yes. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Housing really is one of the challenges of our time, and it's a challenge that the Welsh Government is failing to meet—failing badly to meet. I remain strongly of the opinion that home ownership is essential for wealth. It's really hard to escape poverty if you don't own a property. So, it's regrettable that Assembly Members here—some of whom own up to three properties with their partners—have voted to stop working-class people even owning just one. And that's exactly the sort of 'do as I say and not do as I do' attitude from the plastic left, and absolutely hypocritical—absolutely.
Also, there's a growing number of people in Wales with no roof over their head at all, and, if people don't believe there is a homeless crisis, then walk through the streets of Cardiff, of Pontypridd, and virtually any town or city in Wales and I'll show you where it is. That's why I've introduced a number of amendments today.
Amendment 2 notes the failure of Welsh Governments to deal with homelessness over the past 20 years, and it's a national disgrace. Amendment 4 recognises that the duplication of service, inflated salaries amongst senior managers in the third sector, combined with cuts to local government, is making an already bad situation worse.
Amendment 13 insists that the Welsh Government should declare a homelessness emergency and put forward housing first policies to take people off the streets, because in Cardiff, for example, that is simply not happening. And the option of floor space in a hostel is deeply unattractive to most homeless people I speak to.
Amendment 14 is an acknowledgement that local need should be prioritised when dealing with homelessness. Amendment 15 calls for the Welsh Government to instigate a root-and-branch review of all public money spent in housing and spent dealing with homelessness because, let's be honest, the outlandish and huge salaries of chief executives in the third sector—. There's an astonishing array of organisations where people are earning huge amounts of money that I don't believe they would get in the private sector. And, to be perfectly frank, it's not in the interests of those people to solve the housing and homelessness crisis, because they're doing too well with the situation as it is.
I hope you can support these amendments today and I hope that this institution, ideally through a Government, can bring an end to the homeless crisis and housing crisis that we have in Wales, because that is the job of us elected here. Diolch yn fawr.