Behind some grimy timber hoardings in the centre of Newport, Wales, something truly remarkable is happening. Long-term rough sleepers, who have spent years struggling with often devastating personal traumas, severe mental illness and substance abuse, are getting the chance to rebuild their lives in 15 portable buildings hastily installed in the Welsh city during the pandemic.
Mike Thomas is one of them. His face is warm and friendly – but it also tells an all-too-familiar story of loss, alcoholism and bedding down in the open every night. “I suffer from depression and stuff like that. It [alcohol] makes things seem better but it’s not better,” he says.
Yet Thomas, 49, now has two things he has sorely lacked for many years: hope and a roof over his head. The former steelworker was accommodated on the Welsh government-funded scheme four months ago. “I was in a tent under the flyover near the outdoor market [in Newport]. I was there on and off for about five or six years,” he says. “I’m glad I came in … 100%. They’ve got a heart here – you get looked after.”
Newport council and the Welsh government are not stopping at temporary cabins, though. Thomas is preparing to move to somewhere more permanent under far-reaching plans by ministers to prevent people like him ever returning to the streets. Ultimately, the plans are intended to end rough sleeping and homelessness in Wales for good.
“I’m moving soon. It’s a flat right here in Pillgwenlly,” says Thomas. “I’m nearly 50 years of age and it will be the first time I’ve had a proper roof over my head and a place to call home for 30-odd years. They’ve given me one last chance.”
While the UK government has also pledged to end rough sleeping, the Welsh government’s plans are widely regarded as more ambitious. The £50m Welsh Phase 2 homelessness programme aims to give the 2,266 people in emergency accommodation a clear route to permanent, settled housing. In contrast, in England guidance for the £105m Next Steps accommodation programme states that councils should usually provide homeless people taken in during the pandemic with tenancies of just two years.
The Welsh housing minister, Julie James, says: “We have a completely different approach to England. We don’t want people moved on lots of times. We want everyone in a secure and permanent home – a forever home. If they can’t go into their forever home straightaway then they should only have one more move.” .
In Swansea, 15 of its approximately 20 rough sleepers have been found council or housing association flats since March. Cardiff has placed 109 people into permanent homes, including 36 rough sleepers and 73 people who were in emergency accommodation, while Newport has permanently rehoused 11 people who were sleeping on the streets.
The Welsh local government housing spokeswoman, Andrea Lewis, says: “It’s about getting a roof over people’s heads and then providing wraparound support tailored to each individual’s needs.”
Since the pandemic struck, the Welsh government allocated more than triple the funding available in England, with Welsh councils getting £10m to protect rough sleepers. English councils, faced with a much bigger population of rough sleepers, only got £3.2m.
People sofa-surfing and migrants usually without recourse to public funds were explicitly included in Wales.
By contrast, English council chief executives were told by the homeless minister at the time, Luke Hall, that the law preventing authorities from assisting some homeless migrants remained in place, adding only that councils could use their judgment where lives were at risk.
The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics show not a single homeless person died from Covid-19 in Wales up until 26 June. Whereas in England, coronavirus was involved in the deaths of 16 homeless men. “It means the strategy worked – we managed to keep people safe,” says James.
Welsh councils are eager to maintain this momentum but stress that the funding must continue beyond this financial year – especially as fears are growing that the deepening UK-wide recession may force many more people on to the streets, despite extra protections against eviction for renters in Wales.
“We are making good progress but it is a long journey,” says Jane Mudd, the council leader in Newport, where Welsh government funding has already paid for seven new self-contained flats. “In order to fulfil the policy aspirations of the Welsh government we will need ongoing capital and revenue funding,” Mudd adds.
James is doing her best to assure leaders like Mudd, despite facing crucial Welsh parliament elections in May. She says she would like to see the present funding levels replicated in the indicative budget, which is being drawn up now, and promises it will be in the next Welsh Labour manifesto: “I’ll be working towards that because we need the funding going forward.”
This will be vital for the future of the other rough sleepers in the cabins in Newport. Emma Williams has just got a methadone script and can at long last glimpse a possible way out of a devastating cycle of drug addiction, prostitution and rough sleeping.
“I’ve been on and off the streets since I was 17,” she says, in her homely cabin, which she has filled with cuddly toys, posters and abandoned furniture. “I drink and I’ve been on the heroin. If they can get me a place, I’m going to stay off the streets.”
Williams, 36, who used to sleep in shop doorways, came in just five weeks ago. “I used to go to sleep with one eye open. I couldn’t sleep I was so worried and stressed,” she says. “I feel so secure with these guys I sometimes sleep with the door open.”
The differences between England and Wales have not gone unnoticed by homeless charities. Crisis says Welsh councils have continued accommodating people driven on to the streets during the lockdown, whereas rough sleeping could be starting to rise again in parts of England.
“Only the Welsh government is committed to putting in place comprehensive policies to end homelessness by providing permanent homes for everyone in need, says Jon Sparkes, Crisis chief executive. “The UK government, on the other hand, could achieve its ambition to end rough sleeping in England and still have thousands of people in hostels and temporary accommodation.”
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says that in England: “Nearly 15,000 vulnerable people have been housed in emergency accommodation and we are funding longer-term accommodation – 3,300 homes this year alone – and tailored support so as few people as possible return to life on the streets.”
Meanwhile, in Newport, Thomas is planning his first night in his new home. “I’m going to put the telly on and then I’m going to crash in my own bed in my own flat. It will be bloody marvellous.”
