Temporary accommodation in Wales must be fixed before a “coming tide of homelessness”
It has been revealed that the number of people living in temporary accommodation in Wales has increased by nearly 50% since 2019, from 9,023 to 13,593. At the same time 90% of councils in Wales have reported a rise in homelessness.
Janet Finch-Saunders MS,
Commenting on this revelation, Janet Finch-Saunders MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Housing Minister, said:
“The Labour government have been warned, if they continue to sit on their hands Wales will face a ‘coming tide of homelessness’. Simply sticking more people in temporary accommodation is unstainable, that is a sticking plaster not a solution.
“The Labour Minister, Julie James, must reform the re-housing system, to have someone having to live in temporary accommodation for 10 years is frankly unacceptable.
“Labour have reduced the housing support grant by £14 million in real terms in the past decade, the demand and pressure our councils are facing with housing and homelessness has been exacerbated by this real-terms funding cut. It is therefore no surprise we have seen a 50% rise in those in temporary accommodation.
“The fact that 90% of councils in Wales have seen homelessness rise while the amount of people in temporary accommodation has also risen by 50% shows a categorical failure by Labour to get hold of the dire state of homelessness in Wales.”
“Julie James said in 2020, when homeless people were housed due to the pandemic, ‘’Let me be clear: we cannot go back.’’ Yet we have gone back, the homelessness situation is now worse in 90% of councils. The minister also then said there was an ‘opportunity to engage with individuals who have never been in services before.’ She appears to have wasted that opportunity.”
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