Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services – in the Senedd at 2:39 pm on 29 November 2017.
I thank you for that question, and certainly we are expanding our approach to housing first, commissioning new housing first projects to help people into their own tenancies and increasing access to emergency accommodation. The previous Minister did provide some additional funding to improve and increase the capacity of emergency accommodation, particularly in the Cardiff area. But I agree that housing first is the way forward, in terms of ensuring that people do have access to a warm, safe, decent home, because so much more comes from that. I know also that we need to be working particularly with individual groups that are perhaps more vulnerable, so, young people particularly. I think you were at the launch of the Llamau project, which did involve businesses in terms of tackling young rough-sleeping, particularly, and that was also attended by the First Minister, because he's made it clear that youth homelessness is a particular personal priority for him as well.
I'm also keen, building on the work I did in my previous portfolio, to see what more we can do to support ex-service people who also often find themselves on the streets. We're developing a new housing pathway specifically for veterans to try and ensure that they are able to transition well into civilian life and also ways in which we can engage with them, if and when they are rough-sleepers, in a way that's appropriate to them and has a resonance for them.