Everyone should have a safe place to call home and the right support to thrive in their communities.
However, too many people in Wales are currently facing homelessness and housing insecurity, with nearly 11,000 people in temporary accommodation, and over 90,000 households on social housing waiting lists. The experience of homelessness can be deeply traumatic, leaving its mark on people’s lives for many years to come, affecting their health, education and employment. It also places a significant strain on public services, including sky-rocketing temporary accommodation costs and avoidable pressures on health services. It is in everybody’s interest to prevent homelessness, and the next Welsh Government has a critical role to play in making sure it is rare, brief and unrepeated.
Over the last two decades, there has been strong cross-party support across the Senedd for funding, policies and legislation to tackle homelessness. We have been pleased to work with representatives from all of the political parties who share our passion for ensuring that people have the right home, in the right place, with the right support. Progress on funding and legislation during this Senedd term has provided us with a solid foundation, but there is much more to do if we are to realise the ambition of ending homelessness.
During the last few months we have engaged with our member organisations, frontline workers and people with lived experience, to develop our priorities for the next Welsh Government.
We hope you can join us in supporting these actions to ensure that everyone has a safe place to call home and the right support to thrive in their communities.
Our priorities:
- A strategic, cross-government commitment to ending homelessness
- Increased funding for homelessness and housing support services
- A significant increase in social housing supply, aligned with need
- Greater recognition for homelessness and housing support workers
- Ambitious targets for expanding Housing First across Wales
- A sustainable future for Learning Disability Supported Living services
- A strategic commitment to prioritise inclusion health
