<p>Homelessness in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:06 pm on 21 March 2017.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Dawn Bowden Dawn Bowden Labour 2:06, 21 March 2017

Thank you, First Minister. My concerns are similar to the ones that were raised by Jeremy Miles earlier on, but I want to focus on one specific point. I had the opportunity during January through to just this week of volunteering at the winter night shelter in Merthyr Tydfil that was provided by the council, and I’d probably like to place on record now my thanks to Merthyr Tydfil council for providing that night shelter and for the selfless volunteers who have worked throughout the whole of that period to support the residents there. But what I was probably moved by more than anything else was the total hopelessness of people who find themselves homeless now. There were lots of people there using the shelter who’d found themselves homeless for a number of reasons that you alluded to earlier on—health problems, and drug dependency, and so on. But I was also struck by the number that were there because of family breakdown in relationships. So, they didn’t have other issues, just literally nowhere else to live. And it was the kind of downward spiral—