Sex for Rent and the housing crisis — Dawn Bowden AM
Recent TV reports exposed the shocking “sex for rent” problem as an issue in communities here in Wales. Dawn Bowden AM for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney sets out the challenge facing Welsh Labour in providing sufficient safe, warm homes in our communities.
HOUSING AND HOMES NOW!
WE MUST FACE THE CAUSES OF “SEX FOR RENT” HEAD ON – NOT JUST BE SHOCKED BY THE SYMPTOMS
It took some brave reporters from “Ein Byd” (translates as ‘Our World’) on S4C to recently reveal the true and disturbing nature of the “sex for rent” problem in our communities. The journalists are to be commended for following up on the initial research around this subject, and for exposing the true nature of the exploitation that can happen to young and vulnerable people. Young people who are simply looking for a safe and warm home.
Though I had taken part in the preparation for the broadcast it still left a sick feeling in the stomach to watch the undercover filming, to listen to those men coldly outline their sexual expectations and the favours to be given by a young woman if her monthly rent payment was to be waived. The internet would suggest that too many young people may have faced this scenario. As I said in my first written piece about the programme:
“We owe a responsibility to everyone, especially the young and vulnerable, to keep them safe in the housing choices that they make, to ensure they have sufficient opportunities for a home and we must all play our part in ending exploitation and sexploitation”. (see http://www.dawnbowdenam.co.uk/we-must-act-to-tackle-the-sexploitation-of-our-young-people/)
Yet through it all something was nagging away at the back of my mind and it has taken a few days of reflection to process events and to consider what should happen next.
It is clear to me now that the horrid practice of “sex for rent” is a symptom. It is a symptom of a much bigger cause, and that cause is the lack of safe, affordable homes in our communities.
Indeed the lack of a safe, warm home sits as a rotting core at the heart of our wellbeing policies because without the right housing conditions the demands on all other services increases exponentially.
So what next?
I will of course continue to take an interest in tackling the symptoms of our housing problems. Young and vulnerable people deserve that support.
The widespread media interest shown in the undercover reporting by the team at “Ein Byd” shows the need to enforce existing laws, for us to further promote services like “Live Fear Free”, so we minimise the opportunities in which this vile practice and associated exploitation can take place. We must all be the societal forces that help enforce a spirit of safety in our own communities.
Further pressure must be placed on internet based companies to eradicate “sex for rent” adverts and I believe local authorities, or other housing bodies, must be supported to intervene in this shady market. We are told that “sex for rent” breaks the law, so we must act to have that law enforced.
The next big call
But the bigger picture has to contain a very simple call:
Housing, and the provision of safe, warm homes has to be an ever higher priority for the coming decade.
Given the pace of political events the Assembly campaign of 2016 now feels somewhat distant, and in reality the ideas are already developing for our Welsh Labour manifesto at the 2021 elections. The pace of that work will intensify and for me providing a safe, warm home simply has to sit as a higher priority across Welsh Government portfolios especially given its central role in the wellbeing agenda.
I am a pragmatist. I know that the Welsh Government funding the delivery of 20,000 affordable homes this Assembly term is a welcome step.
Our call in 2021 must be for more homes and it must be for a type of home that meets needs across the spectrum. We must shift our financial support more towards meeting need, and less on ‘fixing’ the weaknesses of the market. And now is the time to lay the ground for that work. We should of course lay the ground through the actions we take via Government announcements before 2021 – time is always of the essence – but also prioritise housing in shaping our next tranche of policy for Wales.
It is for these reasons that I welcome the work on Housing Horizons launched last November by Community Housing Cymru (see https://chcymru.org.uk/housing-horizons) as it contains both high level ambition and realistic methods of delivery. Embracing this type of agenda and moving forwards to deliver on the “Housing First” strategy for tackling homeless and rough sleeping in our communities will provide the environment to transform housing opportunities in Wales.
The role of local authorities as providers and enablers can be strengthened and through Public Service Boards we have a mechanism to ensure our key partners share a common goal. They must all be charged with delivering safe homes and good housing as a “basic right for all” and to spend their public money accordingly.
For our Valleys seats we must recognise that we need to continue investing in the quality of our existing homes, and to tackle the setting of their physical environment. This is a major challenge if we are to create truly sustainable communities. If the Valleys strategy of “hubs” is to prove a success then we need to recognise the need for jobs and homes located in those hubs.
The prize is huge: safe, warm homes, better recovery from mental illness, reduced pressure on health and social services through improved wellbeing, increased independence for many and better rooted communities. We will reduce loneliness and isolation and we can improve the physical environment that so many people live in on a daily basis. There will be economic gains, regeneration, skills and training wins.
Housing epitomises our mission for social justice as delivered through providing safe and warm homes.
Strikingly amidst all the uncertainty of Brexit there is one sector that will continue to need our attention, a sector in which we can invest to everyone’s benefit whatever the final shape of our new relationship with the EU: that is housing.
Let us rise to this challenge. Community Housing Cymru describe their call as a “Housing Horizons”, but let us be more ambitious and make the challenge “Housing and Homes Now”.