2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:35 pm on 16 October 2018.

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Photo of Jack Sargeant Jack Sargeant Labour 2:35, 16 October 2018

The experience showed me the importance of stopping and having a conversation, because that really can help someone, not just buying the magazine itself. I've said many times before that even a smile on the street can save a life. So, this week I'm also looking forward to joining a constituent of mine, Adam Dandy, of SHARE shop, on the streets for an evening on Thursday in order to raise awareness and sleeping out.

I think it's always important to look at the best practice when it comes to ending the epidemic of homelessness, because 300,000 people are homeless across the UK—that's one in every 200 homeless—and there has been an increase of 169 per cent since 2009. Now, to our shame, an average of three people in the UK die on the streets of the UK every single week. If we contrast that to Finland, leader of the house, where they adopted a housing first model in 2008—since then, they've seen a decrease of 18 per cent in homelessness, thanks to this initiative. I perhaps wonder if the Government would be able to bring forward a statement on this type of model, the housing first approach, and whether that might work here in Wales, and if so, when we will see it. Thank you.