1. Statement by the First Minister: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:26 pm on 26 August 2020.

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Photo of Delyth Jewell Delyth Jewell Plaid Cymru 2:26, 26 August 2020

First Minister, Shelter has found that 15,000 tenants in Wales face losing their homes due to rent arrears accrued during the lockdown. These debts have come about through no fault of their own, and uncertainty about the future is plaguing them. It's astonishing that in Wales it's still possible to be evicted into homelessness. I was glad, of course, that tenants have been given four more weeks of certainty that they can't be evicted, but that isn't enough. Those four weeks represent four more weeks of anguish, when desperate people will be wondering whether they will have a roof over their head come the autumn.

We've heard earlier that your party voted to ban evictions and no-fault evictions, and yet you still haven't banned them. Your Government has done a lot of good work to nearly eradicate homelessness during the lockdown, but your inaction in supporting tenants risks undoing all that work. So, First Minister, will you now act to ban evictions into homelessness, to give certainty and solace to the thousands of tenants who are worried that they don't just have a stay of eviction, but a promise that they are secure in their homes? Will you join me and Plaid Cymru in affirming that housing should be a human right?