Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 15 November 2022.
Well, Llywydd, I thank Vikki Howells for drawing attention particularly to the transitional accommodation capital programme. It is an innovation here in Wales, it has £65 million now provided to it, and I am very impressed and encouraged by the way in which progressive local authorities and progressive housing associations have grasped the opportunity that the programme provides. That is why, within an 18-month period, we will bring more than 1,000 additional homes into use. We'll monitor it, Llywydd, through the normal grant awarding process, but I believe that where there are partners who demonstrate that they have the commitment and the capacity to use the funding we are able to provide to bring homes into use, to offer people somewhere that they can move on in their lives, we ought to trust them to get on with the job. And while it's right, because it's public money, that we monitor it and they account for it, I think it should be a trusted relationship with organisations such as the ones mentioned by Vikki Howells and the local authority in the area she represents. Where we have people on the ground who demonstrate their capacity to deliver, we ought to enable them to get on with that job.