Massive rise in numbers sleeping rough in capital
THE amount of people sleeping rough in Cardiff increased by 81% in just two years, it has been revealed.
A minimum of 1,400 people were recorded to be homeless in the Welsh capital over a 25-month period between 2013/14 and 2015/16.
Monitoring was carried out by Rough Sleepers Intervention Teams (RSITs) working for The Wallich homeless charity. In the last three months of 2016 alone a minimum of 368 people were found to be sleeping rough in the city.
That was an actual decrease of 12% compared to the same period in 2015. But the figure was still over double that recorded in Wales’ second largest city.
While figures were collated differently in other parts of Wales, it was found that a minimum of 152 people slept rough in Swansea between October and December – a 27% increase on the same period twelve months earlier.
In the same three-month period a minimum of 117 people slept rough in Newport – the country’s third worst affected area – despite a 5% decrease in numbers compared with the same period in 2015.
The Wallich said that despite some recent success in terms of getting people off the streets, there is much more work to be done.
Mia Rees, Public Affairs and Research Manager at The Wallich, said: “Looking at both the Welsh Government and our own statistics it is clear that, although the Welsh Government has taken steps, not enough is being done to prevent rough sleeping in Wales. It is incredibly concerning to see this large increase across the whole of Wales and we hope that both the Welsh and UK Governments take notice of this worrying trend.”
Elsewhere in Wales a minimum of 23 people were found to be sleeping rough or being supported in some capacity in Bridgend at the end of 2016. That showed a decrease of 50% compared to the last quarter of 2015.
In Wrexham – the other Welsh town supported by Wallich RSITSs – figures have only been monitored since November 2016.
At that time an average of 11 rough sleepers were being supported per day. By this month that figure had risen to an average of 18 a day.
Meanwhile, a count of rough sleepers was made on November 3, 2016 by RSITs teams, which gave a one-night snapshot of the numbers of those sleeping rough across the country.
That count recorded a 72% rise across Wales with 141 people observed sleeping rough compared to 82 in 2015.
It was revealed by the Welsh Government last month that rough sleeping across Wales had gone up by three-quarters in a year.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “In 2015, our new legislation to help everyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless came into effect and has already helped around 3,500 vulnerable people. However, we fully recognise that there is more to do and we expect Local Authorities to focus on preventing and relieving homelessness wherever possible.
“We have recently announced nearly £8m for the Homelessness Prevention Programme and also fund short term accommodation and provide support to help homeless people regain their independence.”