Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 1:43 pm on 8 December 2021.
Minister, it is abundantly clear from your responses that, alongside failing to facilitate a much needed house building boom in Wales, you are actively supporting guidance that is holding the sector back. The urgent need to see more new homes delivered is clear when considering the financial black hole that is the temporary home crisis facing our local authorities. I've written to 22 local authorities—FOIs. And the figures—I've yet more to come out on this—are a scandal, and they're startling. For example, Caerphilly County Borough Council have seen their spend on temporary accommodation increase from £174,000 in 2018-19 to just over £1.2 million in 2020-21, and that is not an isolated incident. Gwynedd's spend on temporary accommodation has similarly increased by 265 per cent from 2018-19 to 2020-21, hitting almost £1.7 million. Minister, given that your statement on homelessness last week said you wish to strengthen links between local authorities and the private sector, will you commit to undertaking a deep-dive with local authorities to review how to more effectively provide long-term homes for our much needed residents? Diolch.