§ 8. Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he will take to improve the quality and quantity of housing for rent in Wales at affordable prices; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GristThe Government are seeking to improve the quantity and quality of housing available for rent principally by taking action to stimulate the development of the private sector, and by increasing the investment in housing association schemes.
We are also taking steps to improve the management of rented accommodation in the public sector and providing new safeguards for private sector tenants against harassment.
§ Mr. MichaelDoes the Minister accept that the private rented sector now deals with only about 6 per cent. of households in Cardiff, and that there has been an increase of well over one third in the number of homelessness presentations in the capital city? Does he accept that there is a desperate need for the Government to give positive support to the council house sector if those homelessness figures are not to continue to escalate and the council house waiting list is not to continue to lengthen? Would it not be appropriate for the Minister to assure us that finances will be made available, not only for management, but for an increase in the number of houses in the public sector to meet that desperate need?
§ Mr. GristThe hon. Gentleman has put his finger on the fact that the provision of private rented accommodation is too low. It has been sat on and harried for many years. We wish to bring that to an end and to expand both the private sector and the housing association movement. Local authorities ought to look after their stock and keep it in good repair. A great deal of publicly owned housing has fallen into serious disrepair and we have urged local councils to spend money on repairing it. Local councils are free to build, and they are doing so.
§ Mr. Simon HughesThe Minister failed to answer the key question, which is how much housing there will be for rent in Wales at affordable prices. Does the Housing Bill provide a guarantee to tenants that rented accommodation will cost no more than 20 per cent. of their income? If the Minister cannot say that it does, the promises in the Housing Bill are as nothing and will not meet the demand all over Wales for cheap, decent rented housing.
§ Mr. GristWe believe that social housing, or affordable rents, will be available through the housing association movement in particular. Housing benefit will be available to all who are paying rents at or below the market level.
§ Mr. WigleyThe Minister has referred several times to housing associations, but in areas such as Gwynedd and Dyfed house prices are escalating so rapidly that housing 776 associations are finding it next to impossible, given the bureaucratic procedures, to compete in the market place and acquire housing. What additional provision does the Welsh Office intend to make available to housing associations to enable them to undertake the vital role to which the Minister referred?
§ Mr. GristThat is why we are making £60 million available this year to the Housing Corporation in Wales. I think that the hon. Gentleman will welcome the establishment of Housing for Wales, a body which will be able to take into account the factors to which he referred.