7. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on Welsh Government work to tackle youth homelessness? OAQ52675

Welsh Government commissioned the Wales Centre for Public Policy to produce research on youth homelessness prevention. Their report, due to be published next month, will help inform future policy and funding decisions, including the allocation of the previously announced additional £10 million for youth homelessness. 

I thank you for that, Cabinet Secretary. The launch of the new ministerial group in June, the purpose of which is to tackle youth homelessness and oversee the housing first projects, is a very welcome way forward, and it does demonstrate a commitment by the Welsh Government to ending youth homelessness, and working collaboratively will also help to achieve that aim. At the beginning of the year, I recall you saying that you had approved funding for a number of those projects within various local authorities and that those would be used for the first model in terms of that housing. I know that it's extremely early days, but I am keen to know if you have any feedback from those projects as yet and, if you do, how you intend to progress that and roll that out more widely across Wales.

Thank you very much for the question. We have been having regular feedback from those initial pilot projects, and we're using what we're learning from them now to fund a further series of what we're calling housing first trailblazer projects, and I was able to announce the first of those earlier on this week.

I'm aware, actually, of some discussions that are taking place in the Mid and West Wales region, particularly with one local authority and their partners, to explore how they could potentially bring forward a working housing first model. I very much welcome that and, obviously, offer any support Welsh Government can provide in those discussions, and encourage others within the region to come forward with their plans as well. It is important, as you say, that housing first takes a collaborative approach, which is why the ministerial task and finish group does contain or include representation from across Welsh Government, but also those organisations that work with young people and vulnerable people; the justice service is involved and so on. So, we will continue learning what we can from the pilot projects and having those discussions with the experts on the group to see how we can take things forward. I would encourage the local authorities who haven't yet rolled out or had the opportunity to roll out housing first in their area to look at the housing first principles, because it's important, actually, that we do stick to those principles.

I had the real privilege of meeting Dr Sam Tsemberis last week. He's the person who actually invented housing first in New York city. It was really good to have the discussion with him about how housing first as a model and an approach to supporting complex people with complex needs is just as relevant in New York city as it is to the most rural parts of Wales, and he was saying that the thing we have to remember is it's housing first, but not housing only. And, so, it's important that when local authorities and their partners are rolling out the housing first model they stick to the housing principles and also work in that collaborative way you described to ensure that the support is there for people at the point when they're ready to have it.

Finally, question 8, Helen Mary Jones.