My Plaid Cymru colleagues have set out the risks and outcomes of a failing housing support system. Another factor at play when it comes to housing support and homelessness is the housing market and supply. When it comes to the housing market, renters are truly at the bottom of the pile, and therefore their homelessness risk increases. Prospective renters are continually required to jump through more and more hoops, completely at odds with the premise of the right to a home. A significant amount of often prohibitive requirements are put in place by landlords before they allow a prospective tenant to rent their property, such as deposits and guarantors, minimum income requirements, extensive credit checks, references and rent upfront. These requirements act as a barrier to many low-income renters, which, in turn, lowers the pool of available housing. A third of surveyed properties had such requirements. When you take the 3.8 per cent covered by the local housing authority and add these requirements, only about 2.1 per cent of properties are covered by local housing authorities with excessive requirements. That's one in 50 properties you can access as a low-income tenant.

Beyond the problems faced by renters are those that exist in houses in multiple occupation. Issues surrounding housing provision can exacerbate personal challenges for anyone, but first-hand testimony and corroborating research highlight that HMOs house a disproportionate number of people with multiple and complex needs. Many tenants highlight mental health challenges at the centre of their needs, either compounded or caused by adverse life experiences. They are more likely to have negative housing experiences, confusion over payments, debt to landlords, and safety concerns related to criminal activity within HMOs chief among them. HMO landlords and owners demonstrate very little duty of care in relation to tenants' welfare. Where support is available, it often comes from informal networks or voluntary sector organisations.

It has long been recognised that residential environments are a key determinant of well-being, with literature from a broad range of disciplines evidencing a link between housing and health outcomes. Furthermore, because of the punitive pre-tenancy checks conducted by landlords, it is highly probable that this worsens an already prevalent issue, which is the under-reporting of mental ill health. Time to Change Wales in 2016 found that one in 10 people surveyed believed that individuals with mental health problems are less trustworthy than people without such issues. A 2010 poll by YouGov, also commissioned by Time to Change, found that 66 per cent of people surveyed in Wales would not rent a room in a shared flat to someone with a mental health condition. It seems to me that we need to develop narratives of understanding and compassion to challenge the culture of stigmatisation. There are some real structural issues to overcome. This type of accommodation cannot be a lasting solution to the lack of housing supply, but it is an obvious consequence. There is opportunism and profiteering, but, ultimately, it is the conditions created largely by Government policy that have created a climate for this to thrive.

The supply of new units of social housing remains lower than it was in the 1990s, most of the 1980s and substantially lower than the second part of the 1970s. This reflects successive Governments' lack of willingness to invest in new social housing over the period. There are 67,000 households currently on housing waiting lists across Wales. An essential step in solving the housing crisis in Wales is a massive increase in housing supply, led by the public not private sector. Publicly built housing should become a mainstream option for those on average incomes, not just those on lower incomes. I look forward with eagerness to see what Unnos, the national construction company born from the co-operation agreement, can achieve. Hopefully, the investment in a public housing programme that produces better quality, greener homes can set us on a path to see an end to the housing crisis and also alleviate other pressures arising from poor health, poor mental health and poverty. Diolch yn fawr.