I would like to put on record my thanks to the committee clerks and all those who took part in our inquiry into empty properties. I was not on the committee at the beginning of the inquiry and did not get the opportunity to question the majority of the witnesses, but I am grateful to all those who took time to inform us.

We have a housing crisis in Wales, with over 60,000 households on a waiting list, yet only a handful of new social housing is being built each year. Shelter Cymru yesterday unveiled shocking figures that show that around 1,600 children will spend Christmas in temporary accommodation due to homelessness, which has risen by almost half in four years. Data uncovered by ITV Cymru last month showed that there were just over 43,000 empty properties in Wales, and as our committee discovered, there are around 27,000 private properties that have been empty for more than six months.

With so many families in desperate need of housing, it is awful to see empty homes in such huge numbers, and it can often be a blight on the landscape, encouraging vandalism. However, we also have to be mindful that there can be a multitude of reasons for a property to be empty. The property could be in probate, which can take many years to resolve. Once out of probate, the new owners may struggle to sell and be unable to foot the inheritance tax bill. Landlords can often struggle to find tenants, meaning that their properties can lay empty for months. Properties can be left derelict because the owner simply can't afford the repair bill to make the property habitable. And I accept that there can be an issue with holiday homes, but these are a smaller part of the whole picture, and with advances such as Airbnb, these properties have become less empty.

The largest numbers of empty properties are in Rhondda Cynon Taf and not on the beach, so there are so many causes to empty properties that we can't take a one-size-fits-all approach. We also have to use the carrot more than the stick, and Governments often talk about enforcement action and penalising the owner of empty properties via stringent property taxes, and this approach doesn't help those struggling with property they cannot use or cannot sell and the lack of legal support regarding enforcement does make the enforcement officer's life more difficult. This is why I support the committee's third recommendation: a specific officer with responsibility for empty properties can get in touch with the owner of a property and establish the reasons as to why it is empty. Together, they can work out solutions, whether that is assistance to make the property habitable or allowing a council or registered social landlord to purchase the property to use as social rent. Council discretion on empty homes varies from council to council, which causes uncertainty to both owner and council employee, but the knee-jerk reaction is often to say that these properties will solve our housing crisis, and it would be wonderful if it would, but being realistic, it will help address the housing need if we can bring these properties into use, but that does not absolve successive governments from their abject failure to provide sufficient affordable housing.

The committee's recommendations will go some way to address the problem of empty homes. No-one wants to see empty properties, least of all the owners of those properties. I urge Members to support the committee's recommendations. Thank you.