NDM8409 Plaid Cymru Debate - The private rented sector
NDM8409 Plaid Cymru Debate - The private rented sector
NDM8409 Heledd
Fychan (South Wales Central)
To propose that the Senedd:
1. Notes:
a) the continued cost-of-living pressures
being faced by renters;
b) Wales’s annual average rent rise of 13.9
per cent in 2021-22;
c) Wales’s further average rent rise of 6.5
per cent in 2022-23, with Shelter Cymru citing examples of 100 per cent rent
increases; and
d) that student rents take up 60 per cent
of the average UK maintenance package, with 32 per cent of students studying in
Wales unable to pay their rents.
2. Believes that no one in Wales should be
put at risk of homelessness as a result of high inflation and a lack of
affordable housing stock.
3. Calls on the Welsh Government to
immediately implement in the private sector:
a) a rent freeze; and
b) measures to ban evictions this winter.
The following amendments were tabled:
Amendment 1 Lesley
Griffiths (Wrexham)
Delete all and replace with:
To propose that the Senedd:
1. Notes the continued cost-of-living
pressures being faced by renters.
2. Welcomes the commitment in the Programme
for Government, as part of the Co-operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru, to
publish a White Paper setting out proposals on the potential to establish a
system of fair rents as well as new approaches to make homes affordable for
those on local incomes.
3. Welcomes the bold, ambitious and radical
reform for the future set out in the White Paper on Ending Homelessness
developed as part of the Co-operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru.
4. Believes that no one in Wales should be
put at risk of homelessness as a result of insufficient housing-related
benefits.
5. Recognises the single biggest lever to
address affordability issues in the private rented sector is Local Housing
Allowance rates, and calls on UK Government to uplift rates to match the actual
cost of rent.
White
Paper on ending homelessness in Wales
If amendment 1 is agreed, amendment 2 will
be de-selected.
Amendment 2 Darren
Millar (Clwyd West)
Delete point 3 and replace with:
Calls on the Welsh Government to:
a) urgently take action to turn Wales’s
thousands of empty properties back into homes;
b) explore opportunities with the sector to
stop the landlord exodus from the Welsh rental market;
c) work with landlords and contract holders
to prevent evictions over the winter months;
d) deliver an action plan to build 12,000
houses a year; and
e) make a statement on the review of Rent Smart Wales.
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Type: For information
First published: 03/01/2024