Email: customer.care@merthyr.gov.uk    Tel: 01685 725000
Address: Merthyr Tydfil CBC, Civic Centre, Castle Street, Merthyr Tydfil, United Kingdom CF47 8AN

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Homelessness Strategy

Background

Prior to March 2001, the priority needs categories for Homelessness had been determined by the Housing Act 1996.

The Welsh Assembly Government introduced a Priority Needs Order in March 2001, which extended the statutory homeless categories to include the following groups of individuals:

  • 16 and 17 year olds;
  • care leavers;
  • prisoners on release from custody;
  • people leaving the armed services; and
  • people fleeing domestic violence.

The Homelessness Act 2002 has six key objectives:

1. To require local housing authorities to adopt a strategic approach to combating homelessness;

2. To abolish the two-year period during which local authorities were subject to the main homelessness duty and replace it with a duty to secure suitable accommodation until a settled housing solution is found;

3. To abolish the duty on local authorities to consider whether other suitable accommodation is available to the homeless before the authority secures accommodation itself;

4. To provide for additional circumstances in which the main homelessness duty can be brought to an end;

5. To give authorities a new power to secure accommodation for homeless applicants who are not in priority need;

6. To amend the statutory arrangements for housing allocations to allow local authorities to offer more choice to homeless people and others in housing need.

A successful section 126 application secured funding that enabled the services of Shelter Cymru to be commissioned to undertake a homelessness review and develop a local homelessness strategy in partnership with ourselves. Between November 2002 and May 2003 a review of homelessness in Merthyr Tydfil was carried out to aid the creation of a comprehensive homelessness strategy to meet the needs of all homeless people in the County Borough.

Our strategy is based on a belief that there should be no need for anyone to become or remain homeless because of inappropriate, inaccessible and uncordinated services. 

Our Homelessness Review identified 24 key findings some of which are identified below:

  • Maintain and develop independent housing advice services and ensure that early refferals are made.  Continue to fund debt and welfare benefits advice.  Promote the advice services.
  • The condition and 'lettability' of Council accommodation could be improved by reviewing the effectivemness of the DSO to reduce the period between allocation and letting, in addition to revising the current means of issuing decoration allowances.
  • There is a lack of direct access accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds.
  • Services are not sufficiently aimed at prevention e.g. reducing tenancy failure in social housing or the private sector.
  • Develop training on housing and homelessness issues to include work with specific groups e.g. young people.  Consider joint training, awareness raising and shadowing of staff from seperate organisations.
  • Arrears management should emphasise debt counselling and budgeting advice.

Our Homelessness Strategy Action Plan has identified 26 key actions which aim to address the homelessness situation within the County Borough.  A copy of the full report is available on our publications page

Any comments on the Action Plan should be addressed to:

Head of Housing, Merthyr Tydfil CBC, Civic Centre, Castle Street, Merthyr Tydfil, CF47 8AN.