This morning, Wales’ Housing Minister Julie James has announced a £3.4m investment into 26 projects across Wales, all focused on tackling youth homelessness. The investment, drawn from the £4.8m Youth Homelessness Innovation Fund, aims to help young people aged 16 to 25 who are at risk of becoming homeless or are currently homeless.

From the allocated funding, Llamau has been awarded a total of £810,200 to further develop services across the country. The largest investment coming in at £333,000, to help develop a Housing First for Youth scheme in partnership with Swansea and RCT Councils.

Housing First is an approach which has been tested in several other countries, which provides people with permanent accommodation with no pre-conditions of support. Our scheme will work with young people for whom existing supported accommodation options aren’t suitable and will provide them with accommodation and support for as long as is needed for each individual.

Every year, around 7,500 young people ask for help with homelessness in Wales and many more find themselves sofa surfing or sleeping in unsuitable and potentially dangerous environments, so it’s remains a huge issue to be resolved.

Housing Minister, Julie James, said,

I want to prevent people from ever experiencing homelessness, but where it does occur I want it to be rare, brief and non-recurrent. For young people, insecure housing can mean a future which is bleak, unjust and lacking in opportunity. These projects are innovative approaches to preventing and solving youth homelessness, dealing with the causes and ensuring that the right support is in place when it is needed. This isn’t just about providing a roof; it’s about giving young people a home.

Funding for the projects has only been agreed for one year, so it remains of vital importance that further funding is made available and is ongoing for Wales to be able to work towards genuinely ending youth homelessness.

Full list of funding which Llamau has been granted is below…

• Llamau, Swansea and Rhondda Cynon Taf Councils will receive over £333,000 to develop Housing First for Youth schemes
• In Caerphilly and Torfaen, Llamau will provide supported lodgings for homeless young people with over £84,000 of funding
• Llamau and Bridgend Council will receive over £172,000 for a complex needs assessment centre and accommodation
• Denbighshire County Council, Viva LGBTQ+ and Llamau will receive £221,200.41 to provide supported housing specific for young people who identify as LGBTQ+