Housing and Regeneration Minister Rebecca Evans has visited a project on Anglesey supporting people out of homelessness and into housing where they can access further support.
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
Housing First is an innovative approach which has been proven to work, providing those who need it with accommodation and then offering them the support they need to be able to sustain a tenancy themselves.
Rebecca Evans met service users and staff at The Wallich in Llangefni and talked to them about how the project, which has been running for five years, is working.
Rebecca Evans said:
“It’s particularly impressive that 78% of people supported by the project have successfully secured and maintained accommodation, and although this project is small in scale, it is helping to improve peoples’ lives and is having a big impact.
“Last month the First Minister asked me to chair a new Ministerial group to support our work tackling youth homelessness, and to oversee the development of Housing First in Wales. We will carefully evaluate how Housing First is working as part of this work, including the Anglesey project.
“I am keen to see what lessons can be learned from this inspiring team, and what we can share with other pilot projects as we work with councils to spread best practice and develop Housing First approaches across Wales.”
Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, Chief Executive of The Wallich said:
“We were delighted to welcome the Minister to visit our team and our service users on Anglesey.
“We have learnt a lot from being the pioneers for Housing First in Wales and we look forward to sharing our best practice with the Ministerial group.
“The Wallich strive to design innovative projects to benefit vulnerable people using the latest and best evidence we have available to us. Our experience in Housing First has laid the foundations for working in implementing Psychologically Informed Environments across our projects.
“It is really encouraging to see the commitment from the Minister to allow this innovation to influence policy.”