The Supporting People Programme has been a ring-fenced grant for a number of years, meaning that local authorities have had to spend their allocation on homelessness and housing-related support services in line with the grant’s terms and conditions.

However, Welsh Government Ministers are considering merging Supporting People with nine other grants to create the Early Intervention: Prevention and Support Grant for 2019/20. Merging the Supporting People Programme with these other grants will remove the ring fence around the Supporting People funding - and therefore the guarantee that it is spent on these services - and dilute the focus on homelessness.

After seeing the devastating effects that removing the ring-fence around Supporting People funding has had in England, we are extremely concerned about the threat this poses to homelessness and housing-related support services in Wales, which could place thousands of vulnerable people at much greater risk of homelessness.

That’s why we are supporting the Housing Matters Wales campaign, led by Cymorth Cymru, which has been set up to challenge the Welsh Government’s proposal. The campaign proposes an alternative solution to Welsh Government that instead of merging the nine grants into one, that two grants are created, with one grant focussing specifically on Housing and Homelessness.

You can find out more about the Housing Matters Wales campaign and how to get involved below.

About the campaign

How you can get involved

Contact your local and regional Assembly Members

Write to your local and regional Assembly Member to let them know why housing matters to you and your community. Find out who your local assembly member is here.

Spread the word on social media

Use your own social media channels to help highlight the importance of homelessness and housing-related support, and to help raise awareness about the Housing Matters Wales campaign. Search the #HousingMattersWales hashtag on Facebook and Twitter to share and retweet posts in support of the campaign.

Your support can play a vital role in protecting existing services and preventing homelessness in Wales. Together, we can put an end to homelessness in Wales.