Part of 3. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 3:37 pm on 14 March 2023.
Thank you, Minister. As you know, more than 60,000 people across Wales currently rely on the housing support grant, which provides much-needed aid for those facing societal problems. The decision of your Government in its final budget to deliver a real-terms cut to this grant has unsurprisingly brought huge concerns through the third sector. One of those concerned organisations is the charity Pobl. They previously warned the Welsh Government that it was crucial that the grant funding be increased because homelessness and housing support services are already facing a 10.1 per cent increase in costs this year. But because of the real-terms cut to the grant, they have told me that some essential housing services and homelessness services are now under threat. Minister, do you agree with me that it was a mistake not to increase funding for the grant, and what will your Government do now to ease the third sector's serious concerns?