Homeless put up their tents outside castle
HOMELESS people are sleeping in tents outside Cardiff Castle. Three tents have been pitched along the castle walls on the corner of Duke Street and North Road, in one of the busiest and most prominent areas of the capital.
Cardiff council, which owns the land, said it is working with the police to move the rough sleepers on.
One man who has been sleeping there for the past three weeks claimed homelessness in Cardiff has never been as bad as it is now.
The man, who did not want to be named, has been homeless for 15 years and said: “I came out of jail and they asked me to (sleep in) floor space down at the Huggard Centre. But I would rather sleep in a tent because you don’t get anything stolen.
“I’ve been here three weeks now and people don’t give me any hassle. I’m not sure how long I will be here.
“We need a lot more help. We need more accommodation. It’s hard to find a place to stay.”
It comes after rough sleepers pitched tents near the National Museum back in April, in a scene which was compared to a “refugee camp”.
There are now calls for more help to be given to homeless people to help them access emergency accommodation.
Richard Edwards, chief executive at The Huggard homelessness charity, said people need support in accessing and maintaining accommodation.
He said: “There is a range of emergency accommodation across the city and Huggard is one of those providers.
“In our experience the absence of a roof is not the primary issue – people need support to maintain a roof over their heads.
“We’re looking at developing a safe space across the city – making sure that day and night provision is safe and accessible, there’s suitable choices and people can get help and support they need in a joined-up way.”
Mr Edwards said The Huggard Centre works to make its services as safe and accessible as possible. It has CCTV footage of communal areas which can be shared with police to pursue prosecutions if people’s belongings are taken. It is also installing lockers.
Cardiff council received 3,987 applications for help with homelessness in 2017/18 – an increase of 68% from just two years ago.
During those 12 months, 1,976 households in Cardiff were identified as homeless, and 1,544 households were identified as threatened with homelessness.
Breakdown of support from family or friends and lack of secure accommodation available are the main reasons why people find themselves at risk of homelessness, a council report found earlier this year.
Shelter Cymru says it is seeing more people living in tents in Cardiff and in other parts of the country.
The charity has recently published research which calls for changes in the way that street homeless people are helped. In particular, Shelter is calling for a nationwide rollout of Housing First so that it becomes the default for all street homeless people to be given priority-need status.
A Cardiff council spokesman said: “The people in these tents have been visited by our outreach team a number of times and will receive another visit today to explain that accommodation and support services are available.
“We will make it clear once again that there is no need to sleep outside.
“The council has no other option than to work with the police to serve legal notice for the individuals to move on, as these tents cannot remain.”