Homeless to get increased support

BRIDGEND council has received extra funding to support homeless people.

A report presented to the council’s cabinet at its meeting last Tuesday said the local authority is set to receive an extra £1.88m in its allocation of the Housing Support Grant from Welsh Government for 2021-22, compared to 2020-21. This year’s allocation is £7.8m.

The grant supports activity which prevents people from becoming homeless, stabilises their housing situation, or helps potentially homeless people to find and keep accommodation.

Some of the council’s priorities for 2021-22 are to improve the accessibility and availability of support and accommodation options for all service users; tackle the need to sleep rough; prioritise preventative services; and work with regional partners across Cwm Taf Morgannwg.

There has been high demand for homelessness services during this time – between January 1 and December 31, 2020, Bridgend council received 1,505 applications. While support enabled some of these cases to be resolved without further action, 1,055 (70%) were provided with temporary accommodation.

As of March 21, 2021, the council was temporarily accommodating 196 households (78% of which were single person households), a 165% increase compared to March 23, 2020 when there were 74 households.

Cabinet agreed to enter into a contract with Pobl to continue offering its low-level support accommodation in the Maesteg area until December 31, 2024. Without continued funding, service users would be made homeless.

It also agreed to enter into negotiations with partner organisations to discuss an uplift of up to a maximum of 5% in the contract value of all existing Housing Support Grant-funded contracts that the council has with third sector housing-related support providers, effective from April 1, on the basis it results in improved terms and conditions for the workforce.