TPAS Cymru’s Post

Transcript

Hi, I'm David. I'm out of there. And today we just want to talk about a new Welsh Government reached a new white paper called the Right to Adequate Housing and Fair Rents. Just want to take you through it. It might be 68 pages long, but it feels a bit like weight when it comes to sector support here. And what we're dealing with is 2 big subjects when you've been kicking around for quite a while. The first being to create a right to adequate housing based on the seven United Nations principles. And the second part of the paper was to look at fair rents. And should Wales have rent controls? And there's a number of models out there around the world and we're different success admittedly. And so what's important to note though with this paper is that this wasn't originally part of Welsh Government plans for their term of government. It was added later as part of the deal with BlackBerry and a few years ago. And that's what I think part of the issue we're going to talk about is. How committed were they to it? How did Welsh Government really wanna see this one through? And, and with some really bold ambitions. And, and, and we asked hens about this last year and they backed this concept and it created this white paper. So the development is nearly two years in the making. It includes a green paper which chief U.S. company consulted on last year and provided the tenant voice on. But there's another thing to note here. There was an organised group campaigning for the champion to the right to ask. For housing with representatives from CCH, Conry Typal and Shelter Company and we will input their statement as well here on what they think about this. So what have Welsh Government released today? I think the title says it all. It it talks about, well, I'll just read out here, says securing a path towards adequate housing, a path towards not a right to adequate housing. And that's a big difference, especially to the Count Cranbrook. I've also been told when you look in the paper that all the rent control proposal has been dropped, which is I think it's a big disappointment. It was something that tennis felt strongly about last year and the private rental sector struggling and there was a number of interesting models in the first green paper about the subject, but they've all been dropped now in this white paper. So that's first still with the big one, the right to adequate housing. The paper says Welsh Government is committed to ensuring everyone in Wales can access. Adequate housing, but it stays well clear of committing to an actual right. Are you confused? We were as well. Honestly. This section is full of terms, definitions and challenges for anyone to understand with words like minimum core obligation, non retrogression, Progressive realisation is not tenant or community friendly terms. Quite a few councils actually argued they could not meet the right to adequate housing and they don't have enough homes to offer. And the white people also offers the usual term landlord organizations or landlords will pull out of the private rental sector and minimize supply, which is those response that we see normally to these kind of challenges when proposed the policy. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing the Back the Bills campaign response on this on the right to adequate housing and when they published their response. We'll share that here. So the other part is mentioned, beginning was rent control. The original green paper had a number of interesting models around rent controls linking it to and all sorts of stuff. And we tested those last year with tenants and there were strong favor, different ones have different success, but there was strong favor having that conversation about rent controls. As I say, all these rent models have been dropped in their white paper. Now the justification was there was not sufficient evidence base. To take forward rent control measures at this time. And also in the paper it talks about that they look to Scotland's and decided it didn't work there. Disappointed that in reality has been honest about these things. The landlord organizations were lobbying hard, lobbying Welsh government hard against rent controls and I think they're even threats of legal action and things like that and I think. Doctor is also played a factor. Did policymakers have the stomach for this, to look at rent controls and to take that on? And. It looks like we just don't know they've been dropped and there are some bits in there about in the paper about proposals on bit more data transparency and private rental sector. But I'm not going to go into detail in it because it's a bit more and I'm just not convinced that's how we're going to solve the pro rental sector challenges. So David, what does CPUs can we think of this paper? What does it compare to telling feedback we've received tenant comments from the previous screen paper and what we're gonna do next? I I think I've sort of hinted already the original idea was bold and two big subjects, rent control and the right to adequate housing. And I'm not sure this is it, to be honest. The backers, to be fair, will say it's a step in the right direction. Slow and steady wins the race. You can't just go from A to B straight away. It's about the journey, and I get that. But also others will say it's just not enough and not enough pace on it. The housing emergencies now, let's be honest, private rental sector is a hard place for renters at the moment. And I'm not sure how much is going to change the result of this. Yeah. Just feel it's not quite enough. So the consultation is now available on the Welsh Government website and through the bus company. Please do contact us if you'd like a copy sent to you. We will be providing a response to this, so do keep your eye out for consultation events and opportunities that we share with you to make your voice heard. And as always, you're on Val for sharing your voice and your continued commitment to the Talent voice.