The following amendments have been selected: amendment 1 in the name of Darren Millar, amendment 2 in the name of Rebecca Evans, and amendment 3 in the name of Neil McEvoy. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendments 2 and 3 will be deselected. If amendment 2 is agreed, amendment 3 will be deselected.

So, we recommence our discussions, and the next item on the agenda is the Plaid Cymru debate on second homes. I call on Delyth Jewell to move the motion—Delyth Jewell.

Motion NDM7386 Siân Gwenllian

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Recognises the housing crisis in many of Wales’s communities and specifically recognises the detrimental impact of unsustainable levels of second homes in depriving the ability of local people to access homes in those communities.

2. Welcomes the steps some local authorities have taken as a result of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 to introduce council tax premiums on second homes as one behaviour changing method around the use of second homes and to facilitate the introduction of measures to meet the local need for housing, but agrees that renewed intervention and leadership is now required at a national level.

3.  Calls on the Welsh Government to act immediately in developing and introducing a package of measures which would include but would not be limited to:

a) using the planning system to control the ability to change the use of a residential dwelling from a sole or main residence to a second home;

b) enabling the introduction of a cap on the proportion of the overall housing stock in a community which may be used as second homes in communities where the concentration of second homes is already unsustainable; 

c) modernising legislation which currently means that not a penny of council tax must be paid on some second homes; 

d) doubling the council tax premium which may be charged on second homes to at least 200 per cent to reinforce work already taking place in some local authorities in seeking to change behaviour around the use of second homes, generate revenue to be invested in social housing and to compensate communities for the detrimental impact of an overuse of second homes on local communities and local services; 

e) doubling the higher rates of land transaction tax for an initial period of six months in an attempt to prevent house prices from spiralling further beyond the reach of the local population and first time buyers in many communities; 

f) taking positive steps to promote access to housing at a price which is within the reach of the local market, including the possibility of encouraging the development of homes which have local market clauses attached; 

g) encouraging and prioritising the purchase of empty homes by local authorities and housing associations in order to meet the local need for social housing; and

h) looking afresh at what constitutes an affordable home.

Motion moved.

Thank you, Llywydd. Everyone should be able to live in the community in which they were brought up. The past few months have highlighted just how important it is to have a comfortable home to live in, not just four walls and a roof, but somewhere safe, somewhere comfortable, a home. Not a place, but a refuge. And a home is also part of the broader fabric of society, giving people an opportunity to protect each other and share life experiences.

But in some areas of Wales, an increasing number of homes are disappearing, as they return to being remote four walls and a roof, empty properties in every sense of the words. The problem is huge and is getting worse. Indeed, the situation is becoming critical. Young people can't afford to buy a house in the area where they were brought up because prices have become so inflated by people from outside of those areas buying the homes for leisure purposes over the summer: four walls and a roof, an escape and nothing else; a bolthole, as described by the Daily Mail.

Llywydd, this is a fundamental issue of social justice. The housing market shouldn't allow people to buy secondary properties at the expense of the communities and the people who live in those communities every day of the year. There is something wrong in the market at the moment, and we need intervention. We are talking here about a crisis, and I will outline why this is a crisis. Last year, one in every three homes sold in Gwynedd and Anglesey were sold as second properties. Twelve per cent of Gwynedd's housing stock are houses where the owners live outside the area. This rate is among the highest in Europe.

The purpose of devolution was to empower us as Members of the Senedd to take action for the benefit of the people of Wales when they need us to do so. They need us to do so now. But, at the moment, as Professor Richard Wyn Jones mentioned in a recent article in Barn, there is a powerlessness from Welsh Government. The Government acknowledges that there is a problem, but they are not taking any steps to resolve that problem.

It is disappointing, but not surprising that the Welsh Government, as usual, has decided to delete all of our motion and to put in its place a number of vacuous statements claiming credit for themselves. Point 6 of the amendment talks of having a review of the situation, but the facts are already known. They also talk about taking action as a result of the findings of this review, which is sure to take ages, when this work has already been done by Plaid Cymru. We need action now, not a task and finish group.

In our paper today, Plaid Cymru proposes a number of steps in order to mitigate the situation. These include changes to planning in order to enable communities to limit the numbers of properties that can be bought as second home;, enabling councils to raise a higher council tax premium on second homes and holiday homes; to close the loophole that enables the owners of such homes to register their homes as businesses; increasing the land transaction tax on the purchase of second homes; introducing restrictions on companies such as Airbnb to control the number of homes that are used for short-term accommodation purposes; to look at the possibility of placing local conditions on housing in certain areas; and to redefine affordable housing so it doesn't include homes that cost over £0.25 million.

Not one of these is a silver bullet, and not one is contentious, but, taken together, they could divert the power of the market away from wealthy investors towards ordinary people on low incomes. Wales wouldn't be alone in taking such steps. Indeed, we in Wales are an exception in the fact that we allow this injustice to continue. Nations across the world have taken action in the face of similar circumstances. For example, New Zealand and Denmark have prohibited the sale of homes to people who aren't citizens, and Bolzano in Italy has restricted the sale of holiday homes to people from outside that region. These are just a few examples, and, if Members would want to know more, then Mabon ap Gwynfor from Dwyfor Meirionnydd has done excellent research, sharing dozens of examples on his social media channels.

We call on the Welsh Government to reconsider their intention to delete all of our motion with their amendment. Don't you see that there is a crisis here? Why wouldn't you be willing to use the executive power that you have to help the people and communities who are crying out in pain? Why will you not stand with us? After all, the steps that we are suggesting not only respond to a specific problem; they can also help the Government to deliver some of its current objectives. For example, with the long-term ambition to have 30 per cent of people working from home, by implementing these recommendations, young people could return to their native areas and rejuvenate them, as long as there is affordable housing there for them so that they can live there. And towns that are busy throughout the year are better for the economy than those that simply come to life for a month—places such as Abersoch. This is a plan that makes economic sense as well as social good sense. The Welsh Government needs to wake up from its slumber and to take action in order to ensure that some of our communities don't become towns and villages where most of the properties are empty and where young people find it impossible to purchase a home. We need to rebuild our communities, and we need to take these steps now.

There is a challenge for Government this evening, Llywydd: take action now or injustice for young people will remain, our culture will be dimmed, and, like Capel Celyn, some of our communities will sink into the pit of history. You have the power. Use that power.

I have selected the three amendments to the motion. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendments 2 and 3 will be deselected. If amendment 2 is agreed, amendment 3 will be deselected. I call on Mark Isherwood to move amendment 1, tabled in the name of Darren Millar. Mark Isherwood.

Amendment 1—Darren Millar

Delete all and replace with:

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Recognises the housing crisis in many of Wales’s communities and the need to enable local people to access homes in those communities. 

2. Calls on the Welsh Government to act immediately in developing and introducing a package of measures which would include but would not be limited to:

a) taking positive steps to promote access to housing at a price which is within the reach of local people, including reintroducing a reformed right to buy and exploring the options for encouraging the development of homes which have local market clauses attached; 

b)  encouraging and prioritising the purchase of empty homes by local authorities and housing associations in order to meet the local need for social housing; and

c) clarifying what constitutes an affordable home. 

3. Calls on the Welsh Government to work with the tourism sector and the Valuation Office Agency to establish an evidence base for policy regarding eligibility for self-catering accommodation to be recorded on the non-domestic rating list.  

Amendment 1 moved.

I move amendment 1. 

From 2003, I've campaigned for the sector, warning the Welsh Government that Wales faced an affordable housing supply crisis unless urgent action was taken. We heard this when we took evidence on Pen Llŷn, 15 years ago. Instead, the Labour Welsh Government cut the number of social homes by over 70 per cent during the first three Assembly terms, as waiting lists mushroomed. The 2012 UK housing review stated it was the Welsh Government itself that gave housing lower priority in its overall budgets, so that, by 2009-10, it had by far the lowest proportional level of housing expenditure of any of the four UK countries. Even last year, 2019, the highest year for UK new home registrations since 2007, the numbers in Wales fell by over 12 per cent. We cannot therefore support the Welsh Government amendment, which pretends that the Welsh Government has had a long-standing commitment to the provision of good quality affordable housing. 

The Labour amendment states that the Welsh Government will meet its 20,000 affordable homes target by the end of this Senedd term, but fails to mention that, although independent reports state that Wales needs 20,000 social homes over a Senedd term, their target includes not just social homes, but intermediate rent, low-cost home ownership and anything else they can squeeze in, hence our amendment calling for clarification of what constitutes an affordable home. 

I do welcome the Labour amendment's call on the Welsh Government to undertake an evidenced, thorough review of second-home ownership in Wales and the measures that might be necessary to ensure the needs of individuals, communities and the economy, in particular the visitor economy. However, as our amendment states, this must include working with the tourism sector and the Valuation Office Agency to establish an evidence base for policy regarding eligibility for self-catering accommodation to be recorded on the non-domestic rating list. Past Welsh Government proposals to change the qualifying criteria for self-catering accommodation generated widespread concern amongst trade bodies, including the Wales Association of Self-catering Operators and Wales Tourism Alliance members. The subsequent Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Domestic Property) (Wales) Order 2010 stated that, to qualify as self-catering accommodation, a dwelling must be available to let for at least 140 days in a 12-month period and actually let for at least 70 days. The Order was revised and strengthened by the Welsh Government in 2016, and the qualification periods were retained, reflecting the public consultation responses. 

As the 2019 Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee report on empty properties states:

'criteria for self-catering accommodation strike a balance.... Dwellings which meet the criteria may be recorded on the non-domestic rating list.... For a property to be defined as self-catering accommodation...the owner must provide evidence to the Valuation Office Agency that the property meets the criteria.'

And, particularly,

'If a local authority believes a property should be listed for council tax and has evidence of this, it is obliged to share such information with the Agency'.

After the Welsh Government announced tighter business grant eligibility criteria for holiday-let businesses in April, I was contacted by large numbers of concerned owners stating, for example, 'They already know which businesses pay business rates and who pays council tax. Those on business rates should automatically have received a grant.' All but two of them lived in north Wales, and one of the others was first-language Welsh, born and raised in Gwynedd, who kept a home in Abersoch. I thank Gwynedd, Anglesey and Conwy councils for using their discretionary powers to ultimately give grants to each of these people. Only Flintshire is still insisting that the Welsh Government requires local authorities to withhold the grants from legitimate businesses not meeting the revised criteria.

The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 added discretionary powers for local authorities to apply council tax premiums of up to 100 per cent to second homes. I warned at the time that this would not generate additional supply for people who need affordable homes in their communities and that enabling local authorities to charge second home owners additional council tax would risk unintended consequences. As the sector has told me, this prompted many who had not known they were already eligible for small business rate relief to switch, and others to start letting out their homes to help with costs.

Most of the second homes purchased in holiday hotspots like Abersoch were already second homes—built as second homes over more than a century, and remaining so ever since. However, overdue action is needed to provide local affordable housing for local people, including purchasing suitable empty homes for social housing, developing homes with effective local market clauses attached, and reintroducing a reformed right to buy for council house tenants, with 100 per cent of sale receipts reinvested into new social housing for local people, because increasing the number of households with their own affordable front door is good housing economics. Diolch yn fawr. 

I call on the Minister for Housing and Local Government to formally move amendment 2, tabled in the name of Rebecca Evans.

Amendment 2—Rebecca Evans

Delete all and replace with:

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Recognises the challenges second homes—and empty homes— can have on the affordability and availability of housing in some communities in Wales.

2. Welcomes the Welsh Government’s long-standing commitment to the provision of good quality, affordable housing, recognising its fundamental role as the bedrock of strong sustainable communities.

3. Welcomes that whilst the pandemic has had an impact on the building of affordable homes, the Welsh Government will meet the 20,000 target by the end of this Senedd term, which will help to meet the need for local housing.

4. Notes that Wales is the only nation in the UK where local authorities are able to charge a premium of up to 100 per cent of the standard rate of council tax both on second homes and long-term empty properties.

5. Further notes that in Wales, unlike the rest of the UK, the Welsh Government did not provide a temporary tax reduction for buy to let investors, investors in furnished holiday lets or buyers of second homes.

6. Calls on the Welsh Government to undertake an evidenced, thorough review of second home ownership in Wales and the measures that might be necessary to ensure the needs of individuals, communities and the economy, in particular the visitor economy, are well balanced. Such a review should look at the role of taxation, planning, local regulation and the supply and access to affordable housing of all tenures.

Amendment 2 moved.

Formally.

I call on Neil McEvoy to move amendment 3, tabled in his name. Neil McEvoy.

Amendment 3—Neil McEvoy

In sub-point 3(g), after 'associations' insert:

', through compulsory purchase if necessary,'

Amendment 3 moved.

Diolch, Llywydd. I've introduced a simple amendment today, stating that, where necessary, compulsory purchase should be used by local authorities to meet the needs of social housing. I've advocated compulsory purchase for some time. I've also long advocated a simple concept for housing, which is local housing based on local need. It's a position that the Labour Party just does not understand. They prefer to build expensive housing beyond the means of local people on greenfield sites—in Cardiff, on greenfield sites they said they would protect.

But I can't say that Plaid Cymru are doing much better. Gwynedd is being ravaged. As we've heard from the Plaid Cymru person moving the motion, it's being ravaged by second-home ownership, and yet the local development plan in Plaid-run Gwynedd enables family homes to be converted into holiday accommodation. Now, they didn't need to do that, but they did. 

So, there's a shortage of homes for people to buy locally, and there's a problem with affordability, and yet Plaid Cymru, the movers of this motion, in power in Gwynedd, decide to make the problem worse. Now, the leader of Plaid is shaking his head—maybe have a word with your group in Gwynedd and get them to change the local development plan. Because that is what the Welsh National Party is campaigning to do: change the development plan in Gwynedd.

Because Plaid Cymru's local development plan in Gwynedd is unacceptable. 

We're in a position now, if we're talking Gwynedd—. Abersoch—it's come up earlier, and the school has to close, the primary school, because of a lack of numbers, directly related to second-home ownership. Now, with decades of being in power—my in-laws live just up the road—with decades of being power, what has Plaid done in Gwynedd to resolve this problem? Next to nothing—bron dim byd. And this is the best ever, this one; this is the best. It's worth remembering that it was a Plaid Cymru Minister here, when in Government—Jocelyn Davies—who accepted the flawed population figures from London, which paved the way for local development plans all over Wales, gobbling up our green fields and decimating our language. Plaid, in power, once again caving in. 

And it's the Plaid Cymru group in this Senedd that has no less than 40 per cent of its members registering an interest in at least one second home. And that's higher than the Labour Party; it's higher than the Conservative group here. Only the Brexit Party has a higher percentage. And I'll contrast that with the same politicians—multiple home-owning politicians—voting not so long ago to prevent people owning their own council house. So, it's okay for one person to own three, and yet constituents of mine are not allowed to buy one single council house they want to buy. 

I will be voting in favour of the motion, but I've just been unable not to call out the hypocrisy of Plaid Cymru here, who have failed to tackle the issue in Gwynedd, in Ceredigion, and who own so many second homes themselves. 

We cannot continue to have communities that are empty for much of the year, where there are so few children that the schools close. We need a system based on the primary principle of local housing for local people, local needs. And we need—we desperately need—a new planning system, and we need some, I'd say, innovation in local government as well to address these most serious problems. And that is what the Welsh National Party is campaigning for. Diolch yn fawr. 

We have brought forward a detailed and comprehensive motion before the Senedd today, and the intention is to move the debate away from the problem and to the solutions and the need to take urgent action at a time where there are clear signs that the issue is intensifying. We know that local people are being shut out of the housing market in communities across Wales and that that is increasing. There are over 6,000 second homes in the county where I live, in Gwynedd—12 per cent of the housing stock, one of the poorest percentages in all of Europe. And the COVID period has brought the tensions that such a situation cause to the fore once again. Ultimately there is a need for major structural changes, to the economy, to fiscal policy, to housing policy, to get to grips with the situation. There is no clearer sign of how unequal life is in these nations. There is something seriously wrong where so many of my constituents are earning lower wages and living in inadequate housing—damp, too small, without exterior space—while there are increasing numbers of luxury homes empty for long periods of time during the year while the wealthier owners are in their main homes in another part of an unequal United Kingdom.

Yes, we need major changes, and I long for the day that the Senedd in Wales will be in a place to implement these structural changes in an independent nation. In the meantime, there are a number of measures that are possible and in the gift of the Welsh Government. In our motion, we set out a package of measures that could make a difference in terms of planning, in terms of budgets and in terms of licensing. What is needed is the political will to take urgent action. I was pleased to hear the First Minister saying that there is a need for legislation to decrease the problem of second homes. Plaid Cymru is very willing to collaborate with his Government to pass urgent legislation in the coming months. This is an issue that needs to be solved immediately, not kicked down the road to be included in a manifesto for the May elections next year. Taking specific steps now, starting the work of creating change, would be a clear and unambiguous sign for communities facing a great deal of pressure that the Government and Senedd of our nation is taking this seriously and believes that we need to take action urgently.

This isn’t a problem that’s unique to Wales; there are problems worldwide and nations worldwide facing similar issues. In the report that we published today, we include measures that are being put in place successfully in other parts of the world, and closer to home, with Northumberland, for example, considering changes to their planning policy that would prohibit the sale of property for people outside of the area, in areas where there are too many second homes. We need to take action and we need to move the debate forward from the problem to what can be done to solve the problem. We would encourage everyone who is watching this debate to read the Plaid Cymru report and we would be very pleased to have your response, your comments and your further practical ideas about how to solve this crisis that is facing an increasing number of our communities.

I believe there's something fundamentally wrong in a society where there are some people with no home, or are living in completely inadequate housing—overcrowded, damp, cold—and others who have two or more homes, at least one of which they use infrequently. I think that's morally wrong.

Can I say I support the Welsh Government's amendments, one of which welcomes the Welsh Government's long-standing commitment to the provision of good-quality, affordable housing, recognising its fundamental role as the bedrock of strong, sustainable communities? Can I go further? I think we need more council housing and more social housing, but especially council housing. I speak as one of those who grew up in a council house in the 1960s. It changed my life and it changed the life of my family. I think that council housing is a wonderful means of providing housing for people that is affordable and of a good quality. 

I also follow the concern of the Welsh Government about empty homes. According to data obtained by ITN News last year, there were 43,028 empty homes in Wales, with at least 18,000 empty for more than six months. That works out at about 450 per constituency. Those include all kinds of properties, with houses in sought-after areas being left empty for several years. Empty homes are a wasted resource at a time of substantial housing demand. They can also cause nuisance and environmental problems, where empty homes can be a focus for increased levels of crime, vandalism, anti-social behaviour, drug abuse, overgrown gardens, unsteady boundary fences or walls, and where you've got a shared wall, either in terraced or semi-detached houses, you can end up with damp coming through from it. They also represent a potential housing resource that is currently unused. Bringing empty homes back into use can help address several housing and social issues by increasing supply in areas where there are housing shortages and pressure. It's an opportunity to link suitable empty homes with housing needs.

It has to be pointed out that if all efforts to persuade owners and landlords to bring their properties back into use fail and such properties continue to be a nuisance or in poor condition, councils need to consider their enforcement powers. But councils also need more enforcement powers and the ability to actually take over those houses. They really do need to be able to say, 'This house has been left here for 18 months to two years; it's deteriorating. We will compulsory purchase it at its market value', and then they can repair it and put it up for sale to the private sector or to housing associations—I don't really care which. It's just about bringing one more house back into use.

The Welsh Government, to its credit, introduced Houses into Homes loans to renovate empty properties and make them fit to live in. The loans are interest-free, they can pay for work on houses, but not enough has been made of it; not enough people have taken it up, and we still have those empty properties. I could take you around my constituency, and you'll walk down a street of terraced houses and there'll be one or two. If you walk down a street of semi-detached houses in sought-after areas, there'll be some empty houses. You can walk down an area where there are large, detached houses, and one of them will be left empty. This cannot be allowed to continue and I think that the Government do need to start taking firmer action. Yes, it's okay to condemn it, but we need action as well.

I welcome part (c) of the Plaid Cymru motion with regard to modernising legislation that currently means that not a penny of council tax is paid on second homes. I do not blame those who take advantage of tax loopholes. It's up to us to close those loopholes. Council tax should be paid on every residential property. Small business tax relief should not be available on properties that have been used previously or built as residential properties. If it was built as a residential property, that's what it should be. I'm sure some people will say that it will affect holiday lets and tourism. If that is true, it tells me something: that the lets are not economically viable. If paying council tax of £1,000 is going to make those lets unviable, then there's something wrong with the lets. It'll also provide more property for local people. I think that we all know of areas where there are shortages of houses to buy or rent.

Finally, can I go back to a cân actol by a group from Eryri at the Urdd Eisteddfod, I think in Llandudno? It was about a village that wanted to protect the Welsh language and their community and were vociferously against selling homes to be second homes. It ended with the most vociferous couple selling to the highest bidder who wanted it as a second home. It made the point that it's local people who are selling these houses to be second homes. They are the ones who are not keeping these homes in their community. If only second homes were sold as second homes, we wouldn't be seeing this increase. And I think it is something on which we really need to say, 'Please, in your local community, if you care about your community, don't sell to people from Cardiff or London, but sell to people who are local'.

I'm pleased to participate in this debate. I'm fortunate to have been selected for a short debate next week. I had considered doing that short debate on second homes, but I'm pleased to have an opportunity to discuss my ideas a week earlier.

This issue has been of great importance to many of us in the Senedd for many years. I remember a Cymdeithas yr Iaith poster, 'Nid yw Cymru ar werth' on the wall of my bedroom in the 1980s. But the lockdown and the fact that people have got to know their communities better, they've noticed people moving back and forth to second homes, trying to register with GP surgeries and so on, has given a new impetus to this, has raised the level of concerns and has increased the desire among the public to see us do something to resolve this problem. Parts of Wales—many parts of Wales—still feel that they are for sale to the highest bidder and, too often, our young people and people on low salaries in our communities simply can't compete. 

It's difficult to know where to start with the examples that I see on Anglesey. Some four of every 10 homes are holiday homes in places like Rhosneigr. You see ideal family homes going for absurd prices, way beyond the reach of the local community, and the result is that those homes are withdrawn from the housing market forever: a small cottage that's doubled in value in a few years; the house on an estate in Llangaffo rented out for £1,800 a month on a website in London; old terrace houses and council houses becoming holiday homes. For some, they are homes to be used occasionally. I see no fault on people who want to do that; Anglesey is a wonderful place to spend a weekend. But there are implications to this: it pushes prices up and it changes the nature of communities, and we know how lifeless many communities with a high number of holiday homes are throughout the year.

Many people do buy second homes as holiday lets, and many of these are local people. But the implications are the same. Websites such as Airbnb have made this even more attractive and easier. But it's no coincidence that so many areas and cities across the world have prohibited or placed strict restrictions on Airbnb lets now. A constituent recently got in touch to complain that one house on their estate had parties every evening, as people came in for short holidays. That's not the kind of community that people expect to live in on these estates in our villages. 

As others have suggested, there are ways of introducing rules and regulations to stop this. Make it a requirement to have planing consent to turn a permanent home into a home that is let for brief periods. It's not rejecting all holiday lets. Self-catering can be an important part of our tourism offer but, at the moment, it's out of control. We need to be able to decide how many to allow within any community and how many holiday homes too. And that means placing a cap and allowing no more than that cap in some communities. 

I'll turn to the loophole that Mike Hedges mentioned—the taxation loophole that we've been asking the Welsh Government to close for years now, but with no joy. A loophole where people register a holiday home as a holiday let, and therefore do not pay council tax, which has a premium, of course, as a second home in certain counties, and then are given full business rate relief. The threshold for change of use is far too low and it costs as much as £1 million per annum for a council such as Anglesey, and it has to stop. It's as simple as that. It's a disgrace that the Labour Government has refused to acknowledge the problem. The problem became even more apparent at the beginning of this pandemic when £10,000 in support was available for small businesses. It's wonderful that real businesses do receive that support, but it's disgraceful to see people trying to take advantage of that. 

With the clock against against me, let me just say this, in conclusion: there is nothing unique to Wales, as we've heard already, in what we're discussing. Concerns about the impact of the ownership of second homes and holiday homes has led to legislative changes and robust steps across the world. So, let's do what others have realised has to be done. It's not an attack on tourism, by the way, but tourism without control is something that happens to a community, it's very different to tourism which is controlled, where there is real ownership and which is sustainable within our communities.

I'll leave it there. We know that Plaid Cymru want to see action. We're urging this Government to start to take action now, because we are in a crisis. 

I thank Plaid Cymru for tabling this debate today. It's an interesting topic, which has had some raised profile over the period of the lockdown, and I do applaud the sentiments of 'local homes for local people' behind it. I must declare an interest in that I inherited my late father's house when he died, and I rent it out to a local family, and I note from the register of Members' interests that many other Members in the Chamber do too. As a result of the requirements of Rent Smart Wales, I've had to register and I employ an agent to manage the property. If I wanted to make real money and was put off by the bureaucracy of being a private landlord in Wales, I may be attracted to the Airbnb route.

The recent announcement of the extension to the six-month notice period for tenants has been received with some consternation by private landlords, many of whom don't sit at home counting their money—they worry about how to keep up with the mortgage payments. So, the Welsh Government needs to proceed with caution because some may no longer wish to offer long-term rentals to local people, and I'm sure this would be an unintended consequence, and a bad one at that.

Looking at the motion that's tabled by Plaid, it does feel like all stick and no carrot: control planning, punitive council tax bills, increasing land transaction tax. On a practical level, I would suggest that if you can afford a second home, you can probably afford to pay more council tax and pay more land transaction tax—that wouldn't be a problem for most of those people. And while we may wish to promote local home occupation and discourage holiday homes, second homes are just one part of a very complex housing market. For that reason, I am attracted to the part of the Labour motion that suggests an audit of the number of second homes and holiday homes in Wales, so that we can see the full scale of the issue. Perception often does not mirror reality, and facts and not feelings are what are important here.

I accept and acknowledge that there is indeed a housing crisis, but, just like the climate crisis, Governments of any colour, anywhere don't appear to be managing the crisis in any effective way at all. I applaud the Welsh Labour Government's prediction of hitting their own target on affordable homes, but the fact of the matter is that 20,000 homes over five years is nowhere near enough when estimates suggest that we need a lot, as we've got 65,000 families here on our waiting lists. I understand councils are now free to build and that the public sector in Wales still holds vast swathes of land. So, what is the barrier to building or creating as many homes as Wales needs? I know that there have been periodic drivers to repurpose empty homes, but any walk, as Mike Hedges said, around any area will turn up various properties that lay empty and unused. So, more can certainly be done.

I'd be interested to hear what the Welsh Government intends to do to embed this sort of approach into housing policy now. We saw at the start of lockdown that where there is a political will, big things, like getting all the homeless into housing, can actually be done. So, where is the political will to create a housing programme for Wales that will ensure that the citizens of Wales have the homes that they need and that they deserve?

I welcome the prospect of looking at the definition of 'affordable', but I'd also be interested in what the definition of 'local' is. I came to Wales in 1986 from the midlands. I've contributed to my community, brought my kids up in rural Wales, and I love Wales. After being here for 34 years plus, would I be considered local if I were to do this now? There is much merit in a serious look at housing in Wales and there is much merit in this motion and many of the amendments. I hope that the Welsh Government, and indeed all parties thinking about manifesto promises, give housing the serious thought it needs and the people of Wales deserve. Thank you.

The Minister for Housing and Local Government, Julie James.

Diolch, Llywydd. As we've heard from a large number of the contributors to this debate, second homes and all the related issues thereof are both emotive and have a long and complicated history. I'm very grateful to Plaid Cymru for the opportunity to discuss this important and complex matter that has been raised several times in the Senedd over the past few weeks, and I'm happy to reiterate and start my remarks with the offer I'll also end them with, that we do not have all the good ideas in Wales, and I'm very happy to work with interested Members across the Senedd on a number of the issues that have been raised tonight to see where we can go with it.

As a number of contributors have also said, the pandemic has impacted on how we see and value our homes. We spend more time in our homes, working as well as living and relaxing there. Home has been for many of us, the lucky ones, our haven during these difficult times. And for some, the option to relocate to a second home has also been inviting, however we can see the tensions that that has caused in some communities, resurfacing long-held concerns about affordability, access to housing for local people and sustainability of communities whose populations grow and shrink significantly according to season.

These communities often thrive thanks to the visitor economy, but of course we need to strike the right balance between that economy and the communities that host it. A vibrant community needs jobs and its people need homes; it needs sustainable infrastructure and a sense of place. This Welsh Government is proud of its placemaking. Only this morning I launched the new placemaking charter for Wales, which enshrines our approach to sustainable communities across Wales and works with our partners across the industry and across the regulatory sector to make achieving more sustainable communities the enshrined goal across Wales. And achieving that of course means balancing permanent homes and those occupied for part of the year or let as businesses.

We need all community members, whether full or part-time, to contribute fairly, and we need to ensure that local people are not priced out of local housing. This Government has made permanent affordable homes accessible across Wales a priority and I'm very proud of our record of a £2 billion investment in housing. We are on track to deliver our 20,000 additional affordable homes during this term—we were on track to do more than that, but, of course, the pandemic has had some effect—and within that figure homes for social rent make up the largest proportion, but we've also helped people buy their own homes through Help to Buy and through rent to own.

Increasing the supply of affordable homes will help local people struggling to stay local because of high property prices and rents in their community. Members will many times have heard me say that I share the concern that local people cannot—local young people in particular—stay in the communities in which they grew up to make their lives and their families. So, it's important that we have a sharp focus on increasing the supply of housing but also getting the balance right is vital. It's also important that second home owners make fair contributions to the communities in which they buy and do not price local people out of the market. As I've said, being unable to work and live in the area you've grown up in is not how we see a future Wales. It's a problem that we have across Wales in a large number of our communities; it's not just confined to the north and west. We have very beautiful communities across Wales and they are increasingly attractive to people, and we should be rightly proud of that.

I also entirely agree with Mike Hedges that the situation—and others, actually; he brought it up first—is not helped where properties stand empty. We've encouraged, equipped and funded local authorities to use their powers to ensure that's not the case. Indeed, again, only this week we initiated a new training programme for local authorities and next month fresh guidance will be issued on the use of compulsory purchase orders to ensure councils can exercise them where needed. We also have a number of schemes to assist home owners to bring houses back into use, either for their own use or to hand them over to social landlords in order to increase our social house supply. And, Llywydd, I have many times mentioned these schemes in the Senedd; I'm just drawing people's attention to them. I can talk, as you know, for at least an hour on any one of those schemes, so I won't try your patience by doing so.

We're also aware of the major contribution of the visitor economy. Our new tourism strategy, 'Welcome to Wales: 2020—2025', recognises its economic importance. Crucially, it also acknowledges that in parts of Wales there is potential for over-tourism and that we need to grow tourism in ways that benefit Wales, listening to residents, visitors and businesses. We've started those conversations and have already instigated a number of ways to help achieve that proper balance.

The foundational economy, too, is particularly important to communities that are more reliant on tourism and recognises that many of the challenges raised in this debate cannot be solved just through the housing supply alone. There are large numbers of other concerns, especially jobs, distributed infrastructure and so on that need to be taken into account.

In terms of tax and fair contribution, we've taken a distinct position. Unlike other UK administrations, the Welsh Government did not provide a temporary tax reduction for buy-to-let investors, investors in furnished holiday lets or buyers of second homes. July's temporary reduction to the residential land transaction tax rates raised the starting threshold from £180,000 to £250,000. Consequently, around 80 per cent of Welsh homebuyers pay no tax, up from 60 per cent for the £180,000 threshold. However, second home buyers in Wales pay higher rates of land transaction tax compared to homebuyers, paying 3 per cent on top of each rate that a homebuyer would pay. This temporary change does not apply to residential transactions subject to the higher rates of LTT, and that ensures that the reduction is targeted at homebuyers who may need additional support to buy their homes in these uncertain economic times, and it is not available to second home buyers and buy-to-let investment properties. That contrasts with the UK and Scottish Governments, who have provided tax reductions on the purchase of such properties as part of the temporary changes to property transaction tax. It also reflects our active commitment to a progressive regime that expects those with the broadest shoulders to contribute the largest share in tax. That includes those in a position to be able to purchase more than one residential property. And I should say, Llywydd, after the conversation about who owns what, that I do not own a second residential property or any other property. I still have a mortgage on my own home.

We very much need to make sure that we build the right kinds of housing across Wales, and I'll just remind Members that, of course, we directed £30 million of the money available for the land transaction tax to phase 2 of our homelessness programme, making sure that it goes towards building many more social homes for rent. Wales is also the only nation to give local authorities a chance to charge a premium of up to 100 per cent on council tax rates to second homes. At present, eight authorities are charging premiums ranging from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. None are applying the maximum premium available, and in the absence of further evidence and consultation, I'm not convinced, given that they aren't charging even the maximum that we currently allow, that doubling that premium is a good thing. From a tax perspective, it's also important to assess the evidence from viewing how tax supports communities across Wales. LTT, for example, brings significant revenue to the Welsh Government, revenue spent on providing public services in Wales. We also explore a future permissive power for local authorities to enact a tourism tax, so tourists can contribute directly to costs borne by local authorities as a result of the tourism there.

But we will not reconcile the issues and interests through tax alone. We also have the rural strategic group for rural housing, because we know that rural areas have particular housing challenges that centre mainly on high house prices to income ratios, and low levels of affordable housing delivery. Rural areas have many different needs, and each area has its own unique challenges and opportunities, and therefore we lead a rural strategic group which consists of rural housing enablers, housing associations, local authorities, Community Housing Cymru and the Welsh Local Government Association. It meets quarterly and provides a forum to exchange and test ideas and share good practice. And you can see from the range of things that we're doing that we do not think that there are any easy answers or quick fixes, and a number of contributors acknowledged that. I'm really keen to understand the various views, application and effect of current powers and take account of the evidence. We need to strike the right balance between the valuable role of the visitor economy, people's rights to enjoy property, access to affordable housing that sustains and energises our communities, and the contribution that all tenures of home ownership make and should make to our communities.

The Welsh Government certainly has the will and appetite to engage across the piece to take forward that work and further assessments of options and their impact, and I will willingly work with Members, and I started my speech by saying, 'Llywydd, that I will willingly work with Members across the Senedd to that end. And, indeed, I'm in the process of arranging meetings with a number of Members who have already come forward to do just that. And therefore, Members, I ask you to support the Government amendment, which provides a sufficiently broad base from which to achieve all that. Diolch.

Llyr Gruffydd to reply to the debate. Llyr Gruffydd.

Thank you very much, Llywydd, and thank you to everyone who's contributed to this debate. The intention from Plaid Cymru in putting forward this debate was to ensure that there was an understanding that the current situation has reached a crisis point in terms of affordable homes—a situation that is intensifying, particularly because of the circumstances we're currently living under. I was very pleased to see the Minister acknowledging that it's not just a problem for the north and the west—it's a problem for the whole of Wales. But in listing some of the things that the Government is doing, one does have to remind oneself that the steps that have been taken are insufficient because the crisis wouldn't have reached the pitch that it has. So, as the Minister will recognise, I'm sure, there is a great deal more that needs to be done, because we are seeing another wave coming towards us—people are buying homes in rural areas, pushing local people out of the local market, and as a result they're pushing people out of their local communities. And as was said at the very beginning of this debate, it's an issue of social justice as much as anything else.

The Labour and Conservative amendments are disappointing, and you just have to look at the first two words of both amendments, which is to delete everything—'delete all'. Through supporting the Labour amendment, we wouldn't be acknowledging the crisis and there would be too ambiguous a promise made, then, to deal with the problems later on, and in supporting the Conservative amendment, we would be deleting any specific reference to using the planning system and the taxation system to get to grips with the problem. Well, those are the two most powerful tools that we have to get to grips with the issues.

From the point of view of using taxation powers, there is an opportunity to do two things: first of all, making the purchase of a second home to be used as a holiday home less attractive, and, as a result, ensuring that there is more housing available within the residential housing stock. But, if they are then purchased as second homes, we should ensure that revenue is there to compensate the local community for things such as investment in social housing. And from the point of view of the planning system, we've seen it happening in other areas, and I am particularly eager for us to reform the classification of use in the planning system, as has happened in Scotland, in Northern Ireland, and as should happen, of course, in Wales.

In 2016, the classification of specific use for HMOs was created to differentiate between them and residential properties. And then, of course, you can start to control how many HMOs you have in a particular community. Well, it's the same principle exactly here in the proposals with regard to second homes, too. That would enable you then to set a cap, in consultation with the local community, to recognise what the appropriate level is, which will vary from one part of the nation to the other, but the principle is the same.

Now, Rhun referred to one factor that is becoming an increasing problem, namely the huge increase that we've seen in properties listed as holiday homes on Airbnb and other platforms, and some of the statistics are frightening. According to one analysis, there are approximately 3,800 homes being used for that kind of use in Gwynedd alone, 3,400 in Pembrokeshire and 1,500 in Cardiff. There are only 2,700 in the whole of Greater Manchester, which has a population similar to that of Wales. So, that points to level of the problem. Analysis suggest that that 3,800 has increased in just 12 months from 2,000 in Gwynedd, so it's almost doubled in a year. And we've already heard that almost 40 per cent of the homes sold in Gwynedd last year were bought as second homes. So, if that isn't the basis to consider something as a crisis, then I don't know what people's definition of a crisis is. 

And there are solutions worldwide. We've heard about many of them, and I could add Amsterdam, Palma, Prague, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona—they've all got to grips with specific issues with regard to Airbnb. But more widely in terms of second homes: Singapore, Israel, Ontario in Canada, Aotearoa, Switzerland—of course, we know what's happened in some of the cantons there—Denmark, as we heard earlier, Austria, Bolzano in Italy. Closer to home, Guernsey, of course, has created a housing market that has two tiers, and I think that's an option worth looking at. And Cornwall is also an example that is referred to very often. Other nations and regions have taken action and they've shown that there are solutions that we could adopt.

I don't know how many of you saw the article in The Times a few weeks ago—perhaps you can't see this clearly, but what it says is:

'Buy-to-let is over: invest in a holiday home instead'.

Now, there's a heartbreaking title for a generation of young people in Wales who can't afford their own home. Now, this is a crisis—it's a crisis that is driven by economic inequality, and there are serious implications as a result of that for the sustainability of communities across Wales.

The purpose of devolution is to bring power and the ability to take action closer to those communities impacted by the problems that we've referred to this afternoon. We do have the powers that we need to get to grips with many of these problems, and we've heard about some of the solutions. If we don't use those powers that we already have to safeguard our communities at their time of need, then people will have a right to ask what the purpose of devolution is. Support our motion. 

The proposal is to agree the motion without amendments. Does any Member object? [Objection.] I will, therefore, defer voting until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.

And we will now take a break until we move to voting time.

Plenary was suspended at 19:09

The Senedd reconvened at 19:19, with the Llywydd in the Chair.