Welsh Women’s Aid has joined with Cymorth Cymru and Community Housing Cymru to launch the #HousingMattersWales campaign. Together we are saying funding must be increased for the Housing Support Grant, which delivers homelessness prevention and housing-related support services in Wales.
The Housing Support Grant is the Welsh Government’s principal funding stream for preventing homelessness and supporting people to live independently. Every year it funds services that help more than 60,000 people to avoid homelessness, escape abuse, live in their own homes and thrive in their communities.
In advance of the Welsh Government’s budget for 2020/21 we are calling on Ministers to increase funding for the Housing Support Grant and ensure that services have the resource and capacity to meet the support and accommodation needs of people who are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness in Wales.
Last year, 512 survivors were unable to be supported in refuges because of a lack of service space, capacity or resources. Welsh Women’s Aid also estimates that 77% of children who experienced domestic abuse in the past year did not receive support from a specialist service.
The additional £13,088,251 would mean that no survivor is turned away and that services are able to provide change that lasts through a holistic model of support from identification to recovery including supporting children and young people alongside the non-abusive parent.
To find out more please read the Housing Matters Report available in English here and in Welsh here.
To get involved in this campaign, please download the campaign pack in English here and in Welsh here.
