4. What action is the Welsh Government taking to increase the supply of social housing during this Senedd term? OQ56395

Thank you, Vikki. We have made a record investment in affordable housing this Senedd term. The 2019-20 statistics have confirmed that, as a direct result of our investment, we will exceed our ambitious target of 20,000 affordable homes this Government term.

Thank you, Minister. As well as giving vulnerable people homes that are fit for purpose, the social housing grant has also helped regenerate key derelict, disused or empty sites, often in very prominent places in our communities. One example in my own constituency is the disused building on Oxford Street in the town centre in Mountain Ash, which Cynon Taf Housing is turning into much-needed one-bedroomed flats through the grant. Minister, I know you put on record before your commitment to continue providing social homes for rent in the next Senedd term, but do you agree with me that such schemes can also prove to be key drivers in transforming and improving our communities for all residents?

Thank you, Vikki. Yes, we're very proud of the juxtaposition of various Government policies. So, our Transforming Towns agenda goes alongside, of course, our social housing policy agenda, and we're very keen to make sure that we have good social housing, good, affordable housing, built close to, adjacent to, our town centres, and preferably, as you say, in derelict buildings or on derelict land that has hitherto been an eyesore and a detriment to the society. What it does, of course, is it brings vibrancy, new hope and optimism and footfall to the city centre, so it's a lovely combination of the ability to give people really lovely homes, which will be easy to afford and they'll be proud to live in, and which will also increases the footfall in the city centre and takes away a building that would otherwise have been a detriment. So, I'm very pleased at the way the Transforming Towns agenda and the social house building agenda have combined together to be able to have that effect in places such as Mountain Ash. I know you've been a big champion of the need to rejuvenate local towns in your area. I well remember the video presentation you did, when we were all back in the Chamber, of the various places in your constituency that required that kind of regeneration, and I'm delighted that one of them is coming to fruition, and really pleased to see that it's single-bedroom flats, which are one of the most sought-after things that we need in the social housing sector. As a result of the pandemic, you'll know that we've already housed over 6,000 people. We are very clearly driving now to build the permanent homes that people need in order to prevent them experiencing that kind of homelessness again.

Minister, do you agree with me that we need to see in the 2020s a social housing renaissance, building at, or preferably above, historical trends? And are you, like me, particularly concerned with that new group: people in their 30s and 40s on good incomes but having no family wealth and that cannot access the market to purchase family homes, to the great detriment of their children?

Yes. I absolutely agree with that, David Melding. We have been very keen to extend, for example, the Help to Buy schemes. We're very keen not only to help younger people, from my perspective, who are in their 30s and so on, just with their families, to access good-quality homes, but we're very keen to help our building industry build them in circumstances where they occasionally need Government help to do so. I'm also very keen, though, to use the leverage that that Government funding brings to build the right kind of homes in the right kind of places and to the right kind of standard. I've been very straightforward with the house building industry here in Wales that we want to see the houses built for the future that people continue to be proud to live in, they don't experience fuel poverty in, they are carbon-passive or carbon-neutral where at all possible, they have the space standards necessary for people to be able to adapt to the changing conditions of their life in those houses. I know you agree with that agenda as well. I'm working very hard to ensure that we will have a continued Help to Buy system in Wales, that we continue to have a rent-to-own scheme in Wales, which has been very successful in very large parts of Wales and which allows people who perhaps don't have a deposit nevertheless to get a foot on the housing ladder, and to have a range of shared equity, shared ownership, co-operative ownership and community land trust-type schemes around Wales, as well as, of course, building the necessary amount of social housing so that people can access social housing should they need to and not be driven into perhaps sub-standard private rented sector accommodation.

Minister, while your Government is on track to meet its affordable homes target for this Senedd term, do you accept that this target was woefully inadequate? I congratulate you for doing more than previous Welsh Governments, but I'm disappointed that you have failed to address the real need that exists for social housing. The new homes that have been built had been snapped up before the first brick was even laid. Families are still waiting years to get a home; far too many children are living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation; and far too many people are still sleeping rough or sofa surfing. Do you accept that your target was not ambitious enough, and should you be returned to this Parliament and be part of the next Welsh Government, will you please pledge to do more? Because in the twenty-first century, it is morally reprehensible that people are still homeless and that they're still living in unsuitable accommodation for their needs. Diolch yn fawr.

Well, Caroline, I'm a little bit astonished that you can make such a dismal fist of something that we're really proud of here in Wales, and I have to say that I don't agree with virtually anything you said, apart from the two sentences right there at the end.

We're incredibly proud of our record of having made our 20,000 affordable homes. Of course, we were only able to up our council house building in the last two years, once the Conservative Government finally saw sense and took the caps off the housing revenue accounts so that, two years ago, we were able to start ramping up our council house building. We've done incredibly well over that. Our latest provisional statistics show that, in 2019-20, a total of 2,940 additional affordable housing units were delivered across Wales, and I'm delighted that that not only builds on our previous success, but sets a new record. There's an increase of 13 per cent on the previous year and the highest annual total to date since records began.

Of course, because of the impacts of COVID-19, we haven't exceeded the target at the levels we would've liked to have done. I have to say, we're not working towards the 20,000 affordable homes; the official statistics show that we have met that target now. I'm disappointed that, because of the pandemic, it slowed down and we weren't able to go as fast as we would've liked to, but we've also got an incredibly proud record of how we've managed homelessness throughout Wales. I'm incredibly proud of the people in local authorities and third sector organisations, housing support services right across Wales who have absolutely gone the extra mile—5 miles—in making sure that people are housed throughout this pandemic, in stark contrast to the Conservatives across our border. We have not had a pandemic of people sleeping rough on our streets during the crisis, and we are very, very proud indeed of the fact that we have housed over 6,000 people. We've invested over £137 million in social housing grants in 2019-20, and over £25 million in housing finance grants to support the provision of social housing in Wales. And we're investing £71.5 million in revenue funding under the affordable housing grant programme to assist local housing authorities to build new council homes. So, I just do not accept at all the premise that she based her question on. Llywydd, we are very proud indeed of this Government's achievements in the social housing sector, and I very much hope that we will be able to continue that for the next five years.