6. Statement by the Minister for Housing and Local Government: Homelessness

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:07 pm on 3 June 2020.

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Photo of Delyth Jewell Delyth Jewell Plaid Cymru 4:07, 3 June 2020

Thank you for that, Minister. A further issue I wanted to raise was the support that's offered to people with no recourse to public funds. Now, that status is a legacy of Tony Blair's attempt to appease the Daily Mail all those years ago, and it has left a long and bloody legacy. We know that Shelter Cymru and others have been writing about the problems it's caused migrant women since at least 2010. Now, unfortunately that status is still in place, and people with no recourse to public funds have been unable to access universal credit, the furlough scheme and other support services. So, could you assure us, Minister, that your measures to end homelessness will not ignore the plight of that group of people.

And, finally, I'd like to ask about the more general long-term lessons that we can learn from this pandemic. We know that poorer communities have been hit harder by the crisis. And one reason we can probably surmise about this is the closer proximity of houses in poorer areas, the risk of overcrowding and, of course, poorer conditions of the houses making underlying health conditions more prevalent. Minister, will you be looking at changes to the planning system in the near future to address these factors so that future housing estates can be made pandemic proof?