Alarm at rise in the number of homeless children in Wales

Government figures have revealed an alarming rise in the number of homeless children in Wales over the last two years

According to the data released this week, 475 dependent children aged under 16 were presented as homeless and placed into temporary accommodation in October 2022, an increase of 59% (or 299) since October 2020.

Overall, including adults, 1,567 people across Wales presented as homeless and were placed into temporary accommodation, 591 more since August 2020.

Data published separately by the Welsh Government has shown the number of households threatened with homelessness in the year 2021- 22 stood at 9,228, representing an increase of 27% compared to the previous year.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds says the cost-of-living crisis may be forcing more people into homelessness and that such a dramatic rise in children experiencing homelessness is particularly worrying.

Alarming

Ms Dodds said: “The rise in these figures is deeply concerning, but it is the steep rise in children presenting as homeless that I find particularly alarming.

“The pressure of high bills and spiralling inflation and low incomes in Wales alongside inaction by the Conservative Party has brought people and families to the edge.

“We now need to see urgent action from the Welsh Labour Government to make more social housing available, policies like clamping down on second homes has got us so far, but it doesn’t change the fact there is a chronic shortage of housing, both social and regular in Wales.

“We also need to see the Conservative UK Government to raise housing benefits.

“No child deserves to be homeless and everyone has a right to a stable space to live and the Welsh Liberal Democrats will continue to campaign to have that right enshrined in legislation in Wales.”