1. How is the Welsh Government working with local authorities to tackle the pressure on homelessness prevention services over the Christmas period? OQ58891

I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. The Welsh Government's commitment to ending homelessness remains unwavering at all times of the year. Our total investment in homelessness prevention and housing support is over £197 million this year, helping ensure no-one is left without the support or the accommodation they need. 

Dioch, Prif Weinidog. It hasn't been that long since homelessness services were confronted by a nightmare scenario during the pandemic, and here they are again confronting another one. I'd like to highlight the case of Keith, a constituent in Maesteg, who recently got in touch for help as he and his wife are in crisis situation after recently receiving a section 21 notice, the deadline of which passed in November. They now face the prospect of a winter looking for accommodation that has disability access, whilst dealing with multiple and complex needs. But given the magnitude of the current situation, and given that there are roughly 25,000 empty properties here in Wales, is it now time for a Government national action plan on empty properties to help prevent distressing cases like Keith's in the future?

Well, Llywydd, to be threatened with homelessness at any time of the year is enormously stressful, as anybody in this Chamber who does casework regularly will know. But to be faced with that over the Christmas period, when you're fearful that services may not be available, is even more challenging, I'm sure, for anybody. There are two aspects to this, Llywydd, of course. There is the demand on the one side, and demand in the system has risen inexorably over this calendar year. In January, 1,100 people presented themselves to local authorities as threatened with or actually being homeless. It rose to 1,200 in February, to 1,300 in March. It was 1,400 by August, 1,500 in September, and I believe that the next set of figures will see it rise to over 1,600. These are huge surges in demand that make it even more difficult for local authorities to discharge their responsibilities, and part of the answer to that has to be to increase the supply of affordable housing. We have a commitment of 20,000 low-carbon homes for social rent during this Senedd term. We are acting to invest £65 million in transitional accommodation, by including £30 million of that in the area of Wales represented by Luke Fletcher, as a £30 million investment in a leasing scheme for Wales, but, also—and it's an important point the Member makes—the investment we are making in assisting local authorities to bring empty homes back into use. And there are some very significant examples of that around Wales—an outstanding one in Pembrokeshire and the area represented by our colleague Paul Davies, where the local authority, with support from the Welsh Government, was able to bring a large number of Ministry of Defence properties back into use for the general population. And the work done in Valleys communities, led my colleague Lee Waters, is another example of how we can, alongside our local authorities, invest in making sure that houses that otherwise stand empty can be brought back into beneficial use. 

Can I first of all join you, First Minister, in giving credit to those local authorities for the work they do already in looking to prevent homelessness, but recognise the challenge that they have at the moment, particularly over this Christmas period? As we know, there are around 14,000 people in Wales currently in temporary accommodation, and in evidence-taking through the Local Government and Housing Committee recently, councils and council leaders, whilst recognising that funding is part of that challenge—as you've pointed out already—talked about the lack of housing supply that they're finding particularly challenging at the moment. And you mentioned the ambition to deliver those 20,000 low-carbon social homes, but there are barriers at the moment that developers are facing to deliver on those homes, and one of those is around the phosphate regulations. And there's an example in my region of north Wales where, in a field on the English side of the border, new social houses are being built, and in a field on the Welsh side of the border, those houses aren't able to be built because of the phosphate regulations that are there. So, people in Wales are not having the houses built that are required for them. So, I wonder, First Minister, what action you will be taking to accelerate this ambition to deliver on those homes, rather than us standing here again, in two and three years' time, talking about the homelessness challenge that faces us.

Well, the phosphates issue is a genuine one, Llywydd. I was able to meet the major players in this area at the Royal Welsh Show earlier this year, and there's a follow-up meeting with all of those players planned for early in the new year. That is to make sure that all those organisations that have a part to play in resolving the phosphates issue are able to do that, and that nobody spends their time pointing the finger at somebody else and saying, 'If only they did something, then this problem could be solved'. Now, the spirit at the meeting in Llanelwedd was much better than that; I thought people did come genuinely looking to advance the things that lay within their own responsibility. What the answer cannot be, Llywydd, is to allow house building to happen in places without a plan to make sure that that house building does not add to the already excessive levels of pollution in rivers in Wales. The pollution crisis that we face in some parts of Wales is absolutely real, and we can't make that worse in order to make something else better. But we know that if every organisation makes its contribution, it is possible to go on developing new houses on land that otherwise would not be available for that purpose, but it does depend, as I say, on collecting together all those different contributions and unlocking the current barriers that exist to developments that we would like to see go ahead.

First Minister, I was wondering whether you'd made an assessment of the half-year results of the Development Bank of Wales, and, in particular, its investment in housing projects, including the leasehold support scheme, which will secure new long-term properties for rent by local authorities, in turn helping to prevent homelessness.

Llywydd, I thank Ken Skates for that question. I remember very vividly a visit that he and I made to the headquarters of the Development Bank of Wales in Wrexham, and it has been one of the outstanding success stories of the last decade. The half-year results, as Ken Skates says, were published in the last week or so. They show a continuing strong trend in direct investment that the bank is able to make, but also the way in which the bank is able to mobilise alongside it other investments from private sources. One of the areas in which the bank has been able to use financial transaction capital, for example, has, as Ken Skates said, been in the leasing scheme. Now, the leasing scheme is a very important part of increasing that supply of housing for rent that other colleagues here have mentioned this afternoon. It allows local authorities to take on properties that are otherwise in the private rented sector, and to invest in the conditions of those homes so that they can be let not just for the short run, but to the medium and long-term run, adding to the supply of affordable social rented homes in those areas. And the role that the Development Bank of Wales has played in allowing that to happen has been an additional string to the bow that it exercises in any case through Help to Buy and other parts of the housing landscape, where the bank's actions have been very important in sustaining that sector during challenging times.