As our motion states, current policies to tackle homelessness and rough-sleeping are falling short of what is required. But none of this is new. Homelessness figures doubled during the first Assembly term, between 1999 and 2003. The then Welsh Assembly Government introduced non-statutory homelessness prevention measures during the second Assembly term to tackle this. Homelessness figures fell, but the sector reported that hidden homelessness doubled. As I stated here in 2007 during the debate on the social justice committee’s report on youth homelessness in Wales,

'Voluntary organisations state that hidden homelessness could double the Assembly Government’s homelessness figures. When we met a group of homeless young people in Old Colwyn, they told us that there was a massive shortage of affordable accommodation, and asked, "Where are we to go?"'.