With winter looming, the demand for support by rough sleepers has increased exponentially, as many face the prospect of having no permanent shelter arrangements and sleeping in the streets in the approaching harsh weather conditions. This may also be exacerbated by the current recession and the cost of living becoming ever higher. Due to the ongoing cost of living crisis, the number of people accessing Welsh food banks in 2023 has gone up 85% since 2018. Following this spike in demand, the Welsh government pledged £330 million towards social housing, and a further investment of £210 million towards support services and the prevention of homelessness in Wales in 2023. Despite the government’s aid pledges, Helping Our Homeless Wales, a Cardiff-based charity that provides rough sleepers with essential resources, tents, food packages, and hot drinks, has claimed that the number of people using their services has tripled in the last year.
A spokesperson and volunteer for the charity stated that they believe the Welsh government has provided significantly less support for rough sleepers since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which greater support and temporary accommodation was provided to homeless people to adhere to government health and safety guidelines. Rough sleepers were temporarily housed in hotels or vacant properties and were provided with PPE and other essentials to ensure they could adhere to lockdown rules.
The charity’s spokesperson also alleged that there had been a sudden increase in people accessing the services provided, which was unprecedented compared to previous figures in the seven years that Helping Our Homeless Wales had been providing support.
In February 2024, the Senedd reported that 10,000 individuals in Wales (including 3,000 children) had been placed in temporary accommodation, which represented an increase of 167% from 2018. In contrast to the number of people requiring accommodation, the Office of National Statistics reported that over 100,000 Welsh homes remained vacant in January 2024, another large increase of 303% from 2018. In response to these figures, Janet Finch Saunders MS, Shadow Housing Minister, challenged the then First Minister Mark Drakeford and declared the Welsh housing crisis as a “far-reaching systemic problem”, and said that it was a “key measure of a society’s prosperity”.
Unfortunately, it is evident that in the winter ahead there will be ever-growing claims on the services and resources provided by Welsh food banks and homeless charities, despite the government’s measures.