Council official says helping people at risk of homelessness is a ‘glowing red’ issue

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

Trying to find people somewhere to live in Swansea has become a “glowing red” issue for the council, a senior official has said.

Mark Wade said “multiple millions” of pounds were being spent dealing with people at risk of homelessness and that the situation is being replicated across Wales.

Mr Wade, director of the council’s place department, had been asked by Cllr Jeff Jones at a meeting why this hadn’t been a so-called red risk before and what was driving it.

Mr Wade said: “I think this one has been a significant risk and issue for us for quite some time. But it’s more of a glowing red status at the moment. It’s a national issue.”

There was a shortage of good-quality accommodation, he said, plus a Welsh Government requirement placing duties on councils to find people a roof over their head if they required housing.

Domestic violence

He said other contributory factors could be a difficult economic climate, a rise in domestic violence, and substance misuse issues. Councils everywhere faced these challenges, he added, but they were “quite pronounced” in Swansea as an urban authority.

“We have frontline staff dealing with housing up at housing options, and they have real difficult challenges on their hands at the moment,” he said.

Mr Wade said housing pressures had been growing a lot over the past three to five years and millions of pounds were spent by the council on temporary accommodation. He said Welsh Government reimbursement for this was slowly withdrawing while demand was not.

A recent report by Audit Wales said as of May 2024, 11,591 people were temporarily housed by councils in Wales, of which 3,003 were children. A further report is expected early this year.

‘Net zero’

Mr Wade told the council’s governance and audit committee that his department was also concerned about the authority’s ability to meet a Welsh Government “net zero” carbon ambition for 2030 for public bodies. The council has repeatedly said it backed this plan but needed more funding to achieve it.

Paula O’Connor, chairwoman of the committee and a lay member, asked if the growth in housing pressures was in part attributable to people moving to Swansea from other council areas.

Mr Wade said borders were “permeable”, that people moving to and fro was an issue, and Swansea’s supply of temporary accommodation was higher than that of some of its neighbours.

He added officers in Swansea had a good working relationship with their peers in nearby areas.

“So we are not, I guess, passing on pressures to each other,” he said.