3. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: The Homelessness Action Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:23 pm on 30 November 2021.

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Photo of Sam Rowlands Sam Rowlands Conservative 3:23, 30 November 2021

Thank you, Minister, for bringing today's statement here to the Chamber today. Certainly, the motives behind the action plan I certainly welcome—the desire to tackle homelessness as quickly as possible is certainly something that I'm sure we'd all want to support. Specifically, I was pleased to see the mention within the action mentioned in the statement of the opportunity for those longer tenancies, especially with, as you mentioned, the private sector landlords who could be worked with more closely, which would actually support both the landlords and those who need that space. 

I just want to focus briefly on part of your statement, and I'll quote, saying:

'This is not just a housing issue. Responsibility for ending homelessness extends beyond the dedicated homelessness and housing teams and departments; it must and will be based on an all-public-services response.'

And you go on to say that:

'This makes ending homelessness a cross-sector, cross-Government priority relevant to health, social services, education'— et cetera, et cetera. And I absolutely agree with that. So, with that in mind, Minister, of the 16 actions in the high-level action plan, which of those do you think will do the best job of ensuring that those other ares of responsibility, of public service, will not further exacerbate some of the issues that we see in homelessness?