Wales could provide homes for 100,000 refugees by using the country's empty holiday homes.

It seems that every day we are presented with new images of people dying while making the journey to Europe from Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea. Wales has thousands of empty holiday homes, that are hardly used for most of the year.  The Welsh Government should use emergency powers to allow these empty homes to be use to provide shelter for refugees.

Wales has over 80,000 second homes that owners use for only a few weeks a year. Most of the year they are empty. These could be used - temporarily - to house refugees who are currently fleeing to Europe from war zones across the world.

If only half the holiday homes were used for this purpose, this would still provide urgently needed housing for 100,000 people. The Welsh Government should use emergency powers to allow these homes to be used to house refugees.

Many European countries have agreed to provide refuge for these people. In Wales we can play our part too.

We have an untapped resource enabling us to accommodate people. The empty holiday homes of Wales should be used to house refugees desperately seeking safety. The Welsh Government should enact emergency legislation allowing some of these holiday homes to be used to provide shelter for refugees.