English: I have long supported rent controls and I back any move to address the poverty caused by unreasonable rent increases. The UK's housing market has been in crisis for decades. The fundamental foundations of the system have been broken. The idea that everybody should be entitled to a roof over their head, like so many other areas of our economy, is now subordinated to the whims of market forces and the pursuit of profit. When Margaret Thatcher came to power her Government withdrew funding for councils to build economically productive housing, instead choosing to support rents and mortgages instead. The disastrous right-to-buy further entrenched market dogma into UK housing policy. Most of the houses sold under this policy were never replaced. It represented a mass sell-off of state assets into the private sector. This ripped up decades of mainstream political agreement on the need for councils to provide social housing. Starting with Clement Attlee's Labour Government, the state provided funding to councils to invest in increasing social housing and, for decades, hundreds of thousands of social rented houses were built on average every year. Economically, the justification was obvious, mass scale home building meant that house prices and rents remained affordable because of high supply. When housing is viewed as a financial investment, the opposite is true. There is pressure to restrict supply in order to drive prices up, maximizing the profits of those who own the assets. Where house building does take place, it is now largely left to private property developers whose prime motive is to make profit for their shareholders. The rapid and unsustainable growth of a class of buy-to-let landlords since the 1980s has not only undone much of the progress in conditions of tenants but has driven an explosion in house prices. The increased prices combined with the low supply lead to ever-increasing rents. Rent controls offer one of the most potent tools we have to address this situation. They aren't without precedent, they are fairly common across Europe. In 2016 the Scottish Government brought in the power to impose controls on rents, and in Wales we must learn the lessons of the failings of the Scottish approach, which were caused by a disappointing timidity and lack of ambition. The aim of rent control should be, first and foremost, to protect tenants. As a longer term aim, it should discourage the hoarding of property by buy-to-let landlords and increase those looking to sell. This will provide an increase in supply, allowing tenants to buy their own houses. The Welsh Government's ongoing expansion of social housing will ensure a home for those who do not wish to buy or who remain unable to, and I look forward to the White Paper and I'm pleased the Welsh Government will be embracing rent controls, as promised in the manifesto. The effects of the housing crisis are felt most acutely by the young and the working class. If we fail to act, we will consign tomorrow's young to a future without housing security. Diolch.
Welsh: Rwyf wedi cefnogi rheolaethau rhent ers tro ac rwy'n cefnogi unrhyw gam i fynd i'r afael â'r tlodi a achosir gan godiadau rhent afresymol. Bu'n argyfwng ar farchnad dai'r DU ers degawdau. Mae sylfeini'r system wedi'u torri. Mae'r syniad y dylai fod hawl gan bawb i do uwch eu pennau, fel cymaint o feysydd eraill yn ein heconomi, bellach yn ddarostyngedig i fympwyon grymoedd y farchnad a'r dyhead i wneud elw. Pan ddaeth Margaret Thatcher i rym, diddymodd ei Llywodraeth gyllid i gynghorau adeiladu tai economaidd gynhyrchiol, gan ddewis cefnogi rhenti a morgeisi yn lle hynny. Ymwthiodd dogma'r farchnad ymhellach i bolisi tai'r DU drwy bolisi trychinebus yr hawl i brynu. Ni ddarparwyd tai yn lle'r rhan fwyaf o'r tai a werthwyd o dan y polisi hwn. Roedd yn enghraifft o werthu asedau'r wladwriaeth i'r sector preifat ar raddfa enfawr. Dinistriodd ddegawdau o gytundeb gwleidyddol prif ffrwd ar yr angen i gynghorau ddarparu tai cymdeithasol. Gan ddechrau gyda Llywodraeth Lafur Clement Attlee, darparodd y wladwriaeth gyllid i gynghorau fuddsoddi mewn cynyddu'r nifer o dai cymdeithasol, ac am ddegawdau, câi cannoedd o filoedd o dai rhent cymdeithasol, ar gyfartaledd, eu hadeiladu bob blwyddyn. Yn economaidd, roedd y cyfiawnhad yn amlwg, gan fod adeiladu tai ar raddfa fawr yn golygu bod prisiau tai a rhenti yn parhau i fod yn fforddiadwy oherwydd bod y cyflenwad yn fawr. Pan ystyrir tai fel buddsoddiad ariannol, y gwrthwyneb sy'n wir. Mae pwysau i gyfyngu ar y cyflenwad er mwyn codi prisiau, gan gynyddu elw'r rheini sy'n berchen ar yr asedau. Lle y caiff tai eu hadeiladu, bellach caiff ei adael i raddau helaeth i ddatblygwyr eiddo preifat, a'u prif gymhelliant hwy yw gwneud elw i'w cyfranddalwyr. Mae twf cyflym ac anghynaliadwy dosbarth o landlordiaid prynu-i-osod ers y 1980au nid yn unig wedi dadwneud llawer o'r cynnydd a wnaed i amodau tenantiaid ond hefyd mae wedi arwain at beri i brisiau tai godi i'r entrychion. Mae'r prisiau uwch ynghyd â'r cyflenwad isel yn arwain at renti cynyddol. Mae rheolaethau rhent yn cynnig un o'r arfau mwyaf pwerus sydd gennym i fynd i'r afael â'r sefyllfa hon. Nid ydynt yn ddigynsail, maent yn weddol gyffredin ledled Ewrop. Yn 2016, cyflwynodd Llywodraeth yr Alban y pŵer i osod rheolaethau ar renti, ac yng Nghymru, mae'n rhaid inni ddysgu gwersi am fethiannau dull gweithredu'r Alban, a achoswyd gan ofnusrwydd siomedig a diffyg uchelgais. Yn gyntaf ac yn bennaf, nod rheolaethau rhent ddylai fod i amddiffyn tenantiaid. Fel nod mwy hirdymor, dylent atal landlordiaid prynu-i-osod rhag cronni eiddo a chynyddu'r nifer ohonynt sy'n dymuno gwerthu. Bydd hyn yn darparu cynnydd yn y cyflenwad, gan ganiatáu i denantiaid brynu eu tai eu hunain. Bydd ehangu tai cymdeithasol yn barhaus gan Lywodraeth Cymru yn sicrhau cartrefi i'r rheini nad ydynt yn dymuno prynu neu sy'n dal i fod yn methu gwneud hynny, ac edrychaf ymlaen at y Papur Gwyn, ac rwy'n falch y bydd Llywodraeth Cymru yn croesawu rheolaethau rhent, fel yr addawyd yn y maniffesto. Pobl ifanc a'r dosbarth gweithiol sy'n teimlo effeithiau'r argyfwng tai yn fwyaf difrifol. Os na weithredwn, byddwn yn condemnio ieuenctid yfory i ddyfodol heb sicrwydd tai. Diolch.