English: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I very much welcome this debate, despite throwing my papers all over the floor in an unseemly fashion, so I apologise for that. [ Laughter.] Thank you, Vaughan. We're absolutely committed, in the Welsh Government, to the provision of social housing by councils as well as by registered social landlords. We know there is an urgent need for additional homes for social rent across Wales. I'm not going to quibble with the figures. We know that there are a lot needed, and they are in the thousands and not the hundreds, so rather than argue about individual numbers it's definitely in the thousands, and we certainly want to acknowledge that. Just to be absolutely clear, providing additional social housing is a fundamental priority for this Government, and that's why I'm very happy to support Plaid Cymru's motion today. I welcome contributions from all Members today. All of us - I have 'most of us' written here, but, actually, I'm happy to be able to say that all of us will share the aim of creating more social housing for rent. There are important questions of how we ensure the right funding, the right design and the right location, and I've certainly been very eager to listen to the contributions very carefully in today's debate to pick up all of the ideas and make sure that we can take them forward. I'm very happy to say that I haven't heard anything in today's debate that I'm not happy to run with, and I would very much welcome detailed discussions with all of you about how we can get some of these ideas to really run. I have seen, and I know that everybody in the Chamber has seen for themselves, the impact a good-quality, safe and affordable place to live can have on someone, particularly someone who's potentially vulnerable or struggling with different challenges, but, actually, just on everyone - it's a fundamental need, and I think it was Mike Hedges who said that we need food, drink and a place to live, and that's absolutely right. Social housing can provide not only quality homes but the support needed to ensure people can sustain a tenancy and thrive in it. It can positively impact on health, mental health and education, which is why, in Wales, we've never moved away from support for social housing, ever since the Assembly was in existence and, indeed, before that. This is why we've set a target for the delivery of affordable homes in the previous term of government, which we achieved, and we've extended the target to 20,000 homes in this term. As Leanne Wood said, the 20,000 target does include schemes aimed at helping people into home ownership, principally the Help to Buy and Rent to Own schemes, but it also has a very large proportion of social rented homes in it. Leanne Wood might be surprised to find that I don't actually very much disagree with what she said. We have included Help to Buy because accessing home ownership has become very difficult to achieve for many in the last 15 to 20 years. David Melding talked about the market forces that have driven some of that, and we've had to respond to that. But homes for social rent make up very much the largest proportion of the 20,000 target, and I'd be very keen to see that target extended now that we've got slightly different conditions in place. I'm confident we'll deliver that commitment in partnership with local authorities and registered social landlords, who have made a record investment of £1.7 billion in housing during this Assembly term, which is a significant sum that is having a huge impact in the delivery of social housing. In 2017-18, over half of the new affordable homes built in Wales were delivered with capital grant from the Welsh Government. The vast majority of those were, in fact, for social rent, and we are convinced that that's the right priority. Homes for social rent also require a higher rate of public subsidy than other forms of affordable housing, but they're essential to meet the range of housing need across our communities, and that's clearly a consensual position in the Assembly, and I'm delighted that it is so. Some housing can be made more affordable for some people by subsidising housing for sale, and, actually, our Help to Buy scheme is very different to the profiles you see in England. So, a large amount more of it is for first-time buyers - about 80 per cent, in fact. We deliberately have had a policy that allows people to get into houses that they want. The price of those houses is an interesting thing, and I don't actually fundamentally disagree with what Leanne Wood was saying about how we measure that. But what we actually need to to do is just build an awful lot more social housing. So, what we're really delighted to see is that, finally, the UK Government has come to its senses and has realised that having artificial caps on the amount of money that you can borrow to build housing is not a sensible thing to do. I think David Melding would agree with me that, actually, raising the cap in order to allow councils to borrow to invest in housing is a good thing. I think you more or less said that in your speech. Clearly, the UK Government has finally seen the light, if you like, on that. So, we are looking to work really hard with our councils across Wales to build council houses at scale, and, where the council has externalised its housing stock, to assist, then, with helping their RSL with their prudential borrowing.
Welsh: Diolch ichi, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Rwy'n croesawu'r ddadl hon, er fy mod wedi taflu fy mhapurau dros y llawr yn y modd mwyaf anweddus, felly rwy'n ymddiheuro am hynny. [ Chwerthin.] Diolch i chi, Vaughan. Rydym yn gwbl ymroddedig yn Llywodraeth Cymru i ddarparu tai cymdeithasol gan gynghorau yn ogystal â landlordiaid cymdeithasol cofrestredig. Gwyddom fod angen brys am dai ychwanegol ar gyfer rhentu cymdeithasol ledled Cymru. Nid wyf am hollti blew ynglŷn â'r ffigurau. Gwyddom fod angen llawer, a'u bod yn y miloedd ac nid y cannoedd, felly yn hytrach na dadlau ynghylch niferoedd unigol mae'n bendant yn y miloedd, ac yn sicr rydym am gydnabod hynny. I fod yn gwbl glir, mae darparu tai cymdeithasol ychwanegol yn flaenoriaeth sylfaenol i'r Llywodraeth hon, a dyna pam rwy'n hapus iawn i gefnogi cynnig Plaid Cymru heddiw. Rwy'n croesawu'r cyfraniadau gan yr holl Aelodau heddiw. Mae pob un ohonom - 'y rhan fwyaf ohonom' sydd gennyf wedi'i ysgrifennu yma, ond mewn gwirionedd, rwy'n falch o allu dweud y bydd pob un ohonom yn rhannu'r nod o greu mwy o dai cymdeithasol i'w rhentu. Mae yna gwestiynau pwysig ynglŷn â sut i sicrhau'r cyllid iawn, y cynllun iawn a'r lleoliad iawn, ac yn sicr rwyf wedi bod yn hynod o awyddus i wrando ar y cyfraniadau'n ofalus yn y ddadl heddiw er mwyn nodi'r holl syniadau a gwneud yn siŵr y gallwn eu datblygu. Rwy'n hapus iawn i ddweud nad wyf wedi clywed unrhyw beth yn y ddadl heddiw nad wyf yn hapus i'w gefnogi, a buaswn yn croesawu trafodaethau manwl gyda phob un ohonoch ynglŷn â sut y gallwn ddatblygu rhai o'r syniadau hyn. Rwyf wedi gweld, a gwn fod pawb yn y Siambr wedi gweld drostynt eu hunain, yr effaith y gall cael man diogel a fforddiadwy o ansawdd da i fyw ynddo ei chael ar rywun, yn enwedig rhywun a allai fod yn agored i niwed neu sy'n cael trafferth i ymdopi â heriau gwahanol o bosibl, ond mewn gwirionedd, yr effaith y gall hynny ei chael ar bawb - mae'n angen sylfaenol, ac rwy'n credu mai Mike Hedges a ddywedodd fod arnom angen bwyd, diod a lle i fyw, ac mae hynny'n hollol gywir. Gall tai cymdeithasol ddarparu nid yn unig cartrefi o ansawdd, ond y cymorth sydd ei angen i sicrhau y gall pobl gynnal tenantiaeth a ffynnu ynddi. Gall effeithio'n gadarnhaol ar iechyd, iechyd meddwl ac addysg, a dyna pam, yng Nghymru, nad ydym erioed wedi symud oddi wrth gymorth ar gyfer tai cymdeithasol, byth ers i'r Cynulliad ddod i fodolaeth, a chyn hynny yn wir. Dyna pam ein bod wedi gosod targed ar gyfer darparu cartrefi fforddiadwy yn ystod y tymor llywodraeth blaenorol, a llwyddasom i gyrraedd y targed hwnnw, ac rydym wedi ymestyn y targed i 20,000 o gartrefi yn y tymor hwn. Fel y dywedodd Leanne Wood, mae'r targed o 20,000 yn cynnwys cynlluniau gyda'r nod o helpu pobl i brynu cartrefi, yn bennaf y cynlluniau Cymorth i Brynu a Rhentu i Brynu, ond hefyd mae'n cynnwys cyfran fawr iawn o gartrefi rhent cymdeithasol. Efallai y bydd yn syndod i Leanne Wood weld nad wyf yn anghytuno â fawr o'r hyn a ddywedodd. Rydym wedi cynnwys Cymorth i Brynu oherwydd bod cael mynediad at berchentyaeth wedi dod yn anodd iawn ei gyflawni i lawer o bobl yn y 15 i 20 mlynedd diwethaf. Soniodd David Melding am rymoedd y farchnad yn ysgogi rhywfaint o hynny, a bu'n rhaid inni ymateb i hynny. Ond cartrefi rhent cymdeithasol yw'r gyfran fwyaf o bell ffordd o'r targed o 20,000, a buaswn yn awyddus iawn i weld y targed hwnnw'n cael ei ymestyn gan fod gennym amodau ychydig yn wahanol ar waith bellach. Rwy'n hyderus y byddwn yn cyflawni'r ymrwymiad hwnnw mewn partneriaeth ag awdurdodau lleol a landlordiaid cymdeithasol cofrestredig, sydd wedi gwneud buddsoddiad mwy nag erioed o £1.7 biliwn mewn tai yn ystod tymor y Cynulliad hwn, sy'n swm sylweddol ac sy'n cael effaith enfawr ar y cyflenwad o dai cymdeithasol. Yn 2017-18, cafodd dros hanner y cartrefi fforddiadwy newydd a adeiladwyd yng Nghymru eu darparu drwy grant cyfalaf gan Lywodraeth Cymru. Roedd y mwyafrif helaeth o'r rheini yn wir ar gyfer rhent cymdeithasol, ac rydym yn argyhoeddedig mai dyna'r flaenoriaeth gywir. Hefyd, mae angen cyfradd uwch o gymhorthdal cyhoeddus ar gyfer cartrefi rhent cymdeithasol na mathau eraill o dai fforddiadwy, ond maent yn hanfodol er mwyn diwallu amrywiaeth o anghenion tai ar draws ein cymunedau, ac mae hwnnw'n amlwg yn safbwynt a rennir yn y Cynulliad, ac rwy'n falch iawn ynglŷn â hynny. Gellir gwneud rhai tai'n fwy fforddiadwy i rai pobl drwy roi cymhorthdal ar gyfer tai sydd ar werth, ac mewn gwirionedd, mae ein cynllun Cymorth i Brynu yn wahanol iawn i'r proffiliau a welwch yn Lloegr. Felly, mae llawer mwy ohono ar gyfer prynwyr tro cyntaf - tua 80 y cant, mewn gwirionedd. Yn fwriadol, mae gennym bolisi sy'n caniatáu i bobl gael y tai y maent eu heisiau. Mae pris y tai hynny'n fater diddorol, ac nid wyf yn anghytuno'n sylfaenol â'r hyn roedd Leanne Wood yn ei ddweud ynglŷn â sut i fesur hynny. Ond yr hyn sydd angen inni ei wneud mewn gwirionedd yw adeiladu llawer iawn mwy o dai cymdeithasol. Felly, rydym yn falch iawn o weld bod Llywodraeth y DU wedi dod at ei choed o'r diwedd ac wedi sylweddoli nad yw cael cap artiffisial ar y swm o arian y gallwch ei fenthyg i adeiladu tai yn beth synhwyrol i'w wneud. Credaf y byddai David Melding yn cytuno â mi, mewn gwirionedd, y byddai cael gwared ar y cap er mwyn galluogi cynghorau i fenthyca er mwyn buddsoddi mewn tai yn beth da. Credaf eich bod chi fwy neu lai wedi dweud hynny yn eich araith. Yn amlwg, mae Llywodraeth y DU wedi gweld y goleuni, os mynnwch, ar hynny o'r diwedd. Felly, rydym yn bwriadu gweithio'n galed iawn gyda'n cynghorau ledled Cymru i adeiladu tai cyngor ar raddfa fawr, a lle mae'r cyngor wedi allanoli ei stoc dai, i helpu eu landlordiaid cymdeithasol cofrestredig gyda'u benthyca darbodus.