Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 19 October 2022.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 1:56, 19 October 2022

I'm very interested indeed in trialling a right to adequate housing in this Senedd term, for sure. But one of the things we have to make sure is that we get the dominoes in a row first. Members will have heard me speak—my time sense is terrible—very recently in the Chamber about the homelessness legislation that we're about to bring forward. We see that as the first step in securing a continuum towards the right to adequate housing, because, frankly, if you don't have the right not to be homeless, then you're a long way off adequate housing. So, for us, it's about making sure that we line up the legislation so that it seamlessly fits into the ability of the local homelessness services to supply you with the adequate housing that you ought to be able to have.

The truth is that, after all the austerity that we faced—. And bear in mind that the right-to-buy scheme forbade local authorities to replace the social housing that was being sold off, absolutely forbade it, and that it was in my lifetime as a politician that the housing revenue accounts were finally uncapped by the Conservative Government, so that the councils could build again. This is always conveniently forgotten by people on the other benches. We need to wrap that up, we need to get the skills back into those organisations, and then we need to enshrine the right to adequate housing. I would like the right to adequate housing to be more than just an idea, but to be an enforceable individual right, and that's a big step from just enshrining it as a general principle in law. So, we are very pleased to work with Plaid Cymru on the co-operation agreement towards making sure that we do get there, because get there I'm sure we can.