English: 'speaker Adam Jones advised landlords to issue "smaller, regular rent increases" instead of large, more sporadic hikes'. It's tactics like this that have led to Wales having the largest increase in rents anywhere in the UK, except for London. In some cases, we're hearing of rents doubling and families left bereft. Now, we hear that private landlords are leaving the sector with claims that the added burden of regulations are making things difficult for them. Ignore those claims. Firstly, regulations are there to protect the well-being of tenants. What we're seeing is property owners cashing in on inflated property prices, and, in some cases, cashing in after taking advantage of Government funds to make their properties more habitable and suitable for tenants, and then selling them for a profit or placing them on Airbnb. So, once again, what we're seeing is public funds being transferred directly into private bank accounts. Surely, you can see that there's something rotten in this system. So, we have a scarcity of available properties, which is adding to the problem and leading to massive increases in rents in some cases. In Wales, average rents have increased by over 15 per cent year on year. This is far more than inflation, and can't be justified. Two years ago, many private renters were spending over a third of their incomes on rents, and here in Cardiff tenants were spending closer to 40 per cent of their take-home pay on rents. This was two years ago, and, since then, we've seen double-digit rent rises. Our local authorities are already inundated with people presenting themselves as homeless and requiring temporary accommodation. They don't have the capacity to take on any more, but that's the situation they face this winter. Many millions of pounds are spent on assisting people who find themselves in this position, requiring temporary accommodation or homeless, and council budgets are completely blown. By doing nothing and letting people find themselves homeless, this Government will have to find more money to give councils to cope with the increase in homeless numbers. Yesterday, the First Minister challenged my colleague Adam Price to find the money to pay for nurse pay increases. Well, the challenge is thrown right back at you. Can you tell us where the money will come from to fund the massive increases in homelessness costs that will come as a consequence of inaction? A rent freeze is a temporary measure. It could be enacted immediately and last for the period of this cost-of-living crisis, which economists expect to be around two years. It could be reviewed on a six-monthly basis. You could then introduce a rent cap immediately afterwards in order to avoid that fear of some landlords massively hiking up their rents. These are actions common to many other countries. In France, rent rises have been capped at 3.5 per cent for a year as part of a Government package on the cost-of-living crisis. In Denmark, rents have been temporarily decoupled from the consumer price index, and increase capped at 4 per cent over two years. Limitations on rent settings have been imposed in Paris and Lyon, and state-wide rent growth restrictions have been introduced in California since January 2020, and are to remain in force until 2031. In Berlin, rents were frozen for five years, starting in February 2020, and Ireland is looking to introduce a ban on evictions this winter. The regional parliament in Brussels has developed an innovative scheme where they link rent increases to a property's energy efficiency, so low energy-efficiency houses are not allowed to raise their rents at all, when 30 per cent of houses in Brussels have very poor energy efficiencies, and this will help the cost-of-living crisis and incentivise landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their properties. So, these are some ideas that could be taken forward if you don't accept this proposal in front of us today. These are steps that you could look at here in Wales. Scotland has introduced a rent freeze and a ban on evictions following a campaign by Mercedes Villalba and her Labour colleagues. The Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is calling for a rent freeze. Labour's shadow housing Secretary in England, Lisa Nandy, is looking at giving councils the right to introduce rent freezes in England. So, will Labour in Wales follow their comrades across the UK? The Tories in Westminster, of course, have already introduced a freeze - a freeze on local housing allowance. Local housing allowance has been frozen for two years, yet in those two years rents have increased more than at any other time. I've referred before to the exceptional work of the Bevan Foundation, who conducted two in-depth studies into local housing allowance, and the fact that in Wales, over the summer period, there were only 60 properties available throughout the whole of Wales at LHA levels. As a Government, you've agreed that the freeze in LHA allowance should be lifted. That's an easy call, because you can blame Westminster, it's their fault, but we can introduce our own freeze here to allow those tenants to live in their own homes by freezing rents. That's a tangible action that we can take to respond to Westminster's callousness. So, a message to our Labour colleagues: be brave, be bold, don't dilly-dally around. The choice is stark: take action and freeze rents, or do nothing and let people freeze this winter.
Welsh: 'cynghorodd y siaradwr Adam Jones landlordiaid i gyhoeddi "codiadau rhent llai yn rheolaidd" yn lle codiadau mawr, mwy ysbeidiol'. Tactegau fel hyn sydd wedi arwain at sicrhau mai gan Gymru y mae'r codiadau rhent mwyaf yn unrhyw le yn y DU, oni bai am Lundain. Mewn rhai achosion, clywn am renti'n dyblu a theuluoedd yn ofidus iawn. Nawr, clywn fod landlordiaid preifat yn gadael y sector gyda honiadau fod baich ychwanegol rheoliadau'n gwneud pethau'n anodd iddynt. Anwybyddwch yr honiadau hynny. Yn gyntaf, mae'r rheoliadau yno i ddiogelu lles tenantiaid. Yr hyn a welwn yw perchnogion eiddo'n elwa ar brisiau eiddo chwyddedig, ac mewn rhai achosion, yn elwa ar ôl manteisio ar arian y Llywodraeth i wneud eu heiddo'n fwy addas a gweddus i fyw ynddynt i denantiaid, drwy eu gwerthu am elw neu eu rhoi ar Airbnb. Felly, unwaith eto, yr hyn a welwn yw arian cyhoeddus yn cael ei drosglwyddo'n uniongyrchol i gyfrifon banc preifat. Gallwch weld bod rhywbeth yn bwdr yn y system hon. Felly, mae gennym brinder eiddo sydd ar gael, sy'n ychwanegu at y broblem ac yn arwain at godiadau rhent enfawr mewn rhai achosion. Yng Nghymru, mae rhenti ar gyfartaledd wedi cynyddu dros 15 y cant o un flwyddyn i'r llall. Mae hyn yn llawer mwy na chwyddiant, ac ni ellir ei gyfiawnhau. Ddwy flynedd yn ôl, roedd llawer o rentwyr preifat yn gwario dros draean o'u hincwm ar renti, ac yma yng Nghaerdydd roedd tenantiaid yn gwario'n agosach at 40 y cant o'u cyflogau ar renti. Roedd hyn ddwy flynedd yn ôl, ac ers hynny, rydym wedi gweld cynnydd dau ddigid yn y rhenti. Mae ein hawdurdodau lleol eisoes yn cael nifer o bobl yn dod atynt yn ddigartref ac angen llety dros dro. Nid oes ganddynt gapasiti i ymdrin â rhagor, ond dyna'r sefyllfa sy'n eu hwynebu y gaeaf hwn. Mae miliynau lawer o bunnoedd yn cael ei wario ar gynorthwyo pobl sy'n mynd i'r sefyllfa hon, sydd angen llety dros dro neu sy'n ddigartref, ac mae cyllidebau'r cyngor wedi'u disbyddu'n llwyr. Trwy wneud dim a gadael i bobl fynd yn ddigartref, bydd rhaid i'r Llywodraeth hon ddod o hyd i fwy o arian i'w roi i gynghorau i ymdopi â'r cynnydd yn nifer y digartref. Ddoe, fe wnaeth y Prif Weinidog herio fy nghyd-Aelod Adam Price i ddod o hyd i'r arian i dalu am godiadau cyflogau nyrsys. Wel, caiff yr her ei thaflu'n ôl atoch chi. A allwch chi ddweud wrthym o ble y daw'r arian i ariannu'r cynnydd enfawr yng nghostau digartrefedd a fydd yn deillio o ddiffyg gweithredu? Mesur dros dro yw rhewi rhenti. Gellid ei weithredu ar unwaith i bara dros gyfnod yr argyfwng costau byw hwn y mae economegwyr yn disgwyl y bydd yn para am oddeutu dwy flynedd. Gellid ei adolygu bob chwe mis. Fe allech chi gyflwyno cap rhent yn syth wedyn er mwyn osgoi'r ofn y bydd rhai landlordiaid yn codi eu rhenti'n aruthrol. Mae'r rhain yn gamau sy'n gyffredin i lawer o wledydd eraill. Yn Ffrainc, mae codiadau rhent wedi'u capio ar 3.5 y cant am flwyddyn fel rhan o becyn y Llywodraeth ar yr argyfwng costau byw. Yn Nenmarc, mae rhenti wedi cael eu datgysylltu dros dro o'r mynegai prisiau defnyddwyr, a chynnydd wedi'i gapio ar 4 y cant dros ddwy flynedd. Mae cyfyngiadau ar eiddo rhent wedi'u gosod ym Mharis a Lyon, ac mae cyfyngiadau ar gynnydd rhent ledled y dalaith wedi'u cyflwyno yng Nghaliffornia ers mis Ionawr 2020, ac maent i barhau mewn grym tan 2031. Yn Berlin, cafodd rhenti eu rhewi am bum mlynedd, gan ddechrau ym mis Chwefror 2020, ac mae Iwerddon yn bwriadu cyflwyno gwaharddiad ar droi allan y gaeaf hwn. Mae'r senedd ranbarthol ym Mrwsel wedi datblygu cynllun arloesol lle maent yn cysylltu codiadau rhent ag effeithlonrwydd ynni eiddo, felly ni chaniateir i dai nad ydynt yn defnyddio ynni'n effeithlon i godi eu rhenti o gwbl, pan fo gan 30 y cant o dai ym Mrwsel lefelau effeithlonrwydd ynni gwael iawn, a bydd hyn yn helpu'r argyfwng costau byw ac yn ysgogi landlordiaid i wella effeithlonrwydd ynni eu heiddo. Felly, dyma rai syniadau y gellid eu datblygu os nad ydych yn derbyn y cynnig sydd o'n blaenau heddiw. Dyma gamau y gallech edrych arnynt yma yng Nghymru. Mae'r Alban wedi cyflwyno rhewi rhenti a gwaharddiad ar droi pobl allan yn dilyn ymgyrch gan Mercedes Villalba a'i chydweithwyr Llafur. Mae Maer Llafur Llundain, Sadiq Khan, yn galw am rewi rhenti. Mae Ysgrifennydd tai yr wrthblaid yn Lloegr, Lisa Nandy, yn ystyried rhoi hawl i gynghorau gyflwyno rhewi rhenti yn Lloegr. Felly, a fydd Llafur yng Nghymru yn dilyn eu cymheiriaid ledled y DU? Mae'r Torïaid yn San Steffan, wrth gwrs, eisoes wedi cyflwyno rhewi - rhewi'r lwfans tai lleol. Mae'r lwfans tai lleol wedi'i rewi ers dwy flynedd, ond eto yn y ddwy flynedd honno mae rhenti wedi codi mwy nag ar unrhyw adeg arall. Rwyf wedi cyfeirio o'r blaen at waith eithriadol Sefydliad Bevan, a gynhaliodd ddwy astudiaeth fanwl i'r lwfans tai lleol, a'r ffaith dim ond 60 eiddo a oedd ar gael ledled Cymru gyfan ar lefelau lwfans tai lleol dros gyfnod yr haf,. Fel Llywodraeth, rydych chi wedi cytuno y dylid rhoi'r gorau i rewi'r lwfans tai lleol. Mae honno'n alwad hawdd, oherwydd gallwch feio San Steffan, eu bai hwy ydyw, ond gallwn gyflwyno ein rhewi ein hunain yma i ganiatáu i'r tenantiaid hynny fyw yn eu cartrefi eu hunain drwy rewi rhenti. Mae honno'n weithred ymarferol y gallwn ei gwneud i ymateb i ddiffyg tosturi San Steffan. Felly, neges i'n cyd-Aelodau Llafur: byddwch yn ddewr, byddwch yn feiddgar, peidiwch â llusgo traed. Mae'r dewis yn amlwg: gweithredu a rhewi rhenti, neu wneud dim a gadael i bobl rewi y gaeaf hwn.