Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 5 April 2017.
I think when we introduced the legislation around homelessness, we had a fantastic response in terms of a reduction in the numbers, and I pay tribute to local authorities who have been dealing with that. I spoke to Shelter Cymru this morning, and they are very impressed at the pace of the success we’ve had, but I also acknowledge the fact that there have been some other interventions that have happened here that have caused a different dynamic of street homelessness and rough sleepers out there. If you walk through the cities now, you’ll see a younger cohort of individuals being there. The implementation of the 18 to 21-year-old housing benefit cuts this week will increase that. So, there is some work, and I met with the First Minister, also, yesterday, to talk about youth homelessness and the fact that we have to have some urgent pieces of work looking at how we get direct intervention, and it might be by working from the non-traditional way that we provide support. But I’ve already visited some areas where there are some clever interventions about supporting people and housing solutions as well, which I’m really interested in.