CRISIS POINT
CHARITY’S HOUSING WARNING AS CITY HOMELESS COSTS RISE
THE housing system in South Wales is “broken” with homelessness coming at an “incredible” cost to the public, a leading charity has said.
It comes as figures reveal housing temporary families in temporary accommodation cost Cardiff council almost £2m last year.
The figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests revealed that the overall bill for temporary accommodation in the city was £1.9m in 2016-17.
This means that council spending on temporary accommodation had risen by 17% in a year.
The direct cost to the council is likely to be lower than that total, as a proportion of the cost of temporary accommodation is covered by housing benefit paid by the UK Government.
Shelter Cymru said the figures illustrate how broken the system is and the “incredible public cost of rising homelessness”.
A spokeswoman said: “In many parts of Wales it’s becoming harder and harder to find accommodation that’s right for people. Much of the housing market is out of the range of people on low incomes, mainly because housing benefit bears no relation to rents any more.
“Social housing is like gold dust after decades of underinvestment, and too many private landlords discriminate against tenants who are claiming benefits.
“This means that there’s a growing reliance on temporary accommodation and more people forced to live in limbo, sometimes without basic facilities, for months or even years. To fix this broken system we need more homes, not temporary but permanent, at rents that people can afford.”
A spokesperson from Cardiff council said: “Cardiff does not use bed and breakfast accommodation to house homeless people but maintains a range of good quality leased and supported housing.
“A change in housing benefit legislation meant that from last year management costs for leased accommodation became payable by the council.
“While most of this was covered by Welsh Government grant, the council was required to fund more of these costs directly.”
The overall cost of housing homeless families in temporary accommodation in Wales was £9m last year.
Based on data from Welsh councils that provided information for all of the past eight years, the cost for the councils in 2016-17 was £8.6m, this was 5% higher than the £8.2m cost in 2015-16, although the total has dropped by 16% from £10.2m in 2009/10.
In Merthyr Tydfil, the total cost hit £110,203 in 2016-17, a 248% rise from £31,632 in 2015-16, and more than double the £47,909 cost in 2009-10.
The Vale of Glamorgan has seen the cost rise 47% in a year, from £68,168 in 2015-16 to £99,9912 in 2016-17, with a 426% rise from £19,015 in 2009-10, while the cost for housing homeless families in 2016-17 was £540,435 in Caerphilly, £586,780 in Bridgend, and £140,320 in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
Across Britain, the total bill topped £1.1bn in 2016-17.
Figures from the 270 councils that were able to provide information going back to 2009-10, before the Conservatives came to power, show the amount spent has risen by 45% since 2009-10.