What steps is the Welsh Government taking to ensure that the £42.9m spent on temporary accommodation is redirected towards opening up more usable permanent social housing?
In order to support move-on from temporary accommodation, the Transitional Accommodation Capital Programme (TACP) was established in 2022-23 to provide good quality longer-term accommodation for everyone in housing need. In its first year, £76.4m was made available to bring forward 936 homes. TACP has opened to new applications in 2023-24 to deliver more homes to reduce the number of people living in temporary accommodation.
We are also investing over £210m in homelessness prevention and housing support services in 2023-24, the majority of which is preventative spend. This includes £6m to local authorities for a Discretionary Homelessness Prevention Fund, which can be used flexibly to help keep someone in their own home or quickly relieve homelessness – including helping with rent arrears. This fund received a £6.5m in-year top up in 2023-24, taking to the total to £12.5m.