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Matthew Horwood

It’s official! Wales is getting a new homelessness law!

On Tuesday (10 February), the Senedd voted unanimously to give the green light to a new homelessness law in Wales. 

This is a huge moment and a significant step forward in efforts to work towards ending homelessness in Wales! It comes after years of calling for change from Crisis, our partners, members and our supporters. 

What does the new law do?  

The new law, which will be phased in over the coming years, includes many of the key changes that Crisis has been calling for and will make a huge difference to both homelessness prevention and support in Wales.  

There is a lot in the new Homelessness and Social Housing Allocations (Wales) Act, but some of our key highlights include measures which will ensure that: 

  • People who are at risk of becoming homeless can access help much earlier – from six months instead of just 56 days. 
  • A number of public services will work more closely together with new “ask and act” and “co-operation” duties on homelessness. 
  • People with more complex needs can be offered ongoing support to help them stay in their new homes  
  • People facing homelessness will have clearer rights as well as support plans to outline the steps councils are taking to help 
  • New powers for local authorities should help in areas where allocations to homeless households are proving difficult  
  • In time, Wales will lose the harmful laws on Priority Need and Intentionality which can lock people out of homelessness support.  

A big thank you! 

These changes to the law would not have been possible without the hard work of so many politicians, professionals, academics, charities and – crucially – people with lived experience of homelessness in Wales. 

Throughout the journey of this new law, we’ve continued to share the views and experiences of our members here at Crisis with the Welsh Government and politicians. By bravely sharing their stories and experiences, they have helped us to secure improved systems for the future.  

 “We need to put in place help for the next generation. I don’t want others to go through what we’ve been through.”  

Kevin (a Crisis member)

We owe a huge thank you to everyone with lived experience who helped to shape this new law. 

We also want to say a huge thank you to all our wonderful Crisis supporters. More than 360 of you took action to write to your local Members of the Senedd urging them to support the new law. Collectively you sent around 1,800 emails and helped us to send a very loud and clear call for change. Diolch yn fawr. 

How did we get here?  

As outlined in our previous blog when the draft Bill was published, this success comes after years of campaigning here at Crisis.  

Over the past few years, Crisis has: 

  • Co-ordinated an Expert Review Panel which – chaired by Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick of Heriot-Watt University - drew together experts from across housing associations, local authorities, academia and charities to make recommendations to the Welsh Government on how changes to the law could help to end homelessness. Critically, the panel heard from more than 300 people with lived experience of homelessness in Wales and consulted widely with professionals across the housing sector and beyond.  
  • Responded to consultations on the Welsh Government’s plans to change the law on homelessness, ensuring that the voices of our members with lived experience of homelessness were heard. 

In May 2025, the Welsh Government published a draft version of the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocations Bill. It reflected recommendations made by the Expert Review Panel and many of the key changes that Crisis had been calling for.  

Since then, we’ve been working hard to support the Bill, whilst also looking at ways in which it can be further strengthened. We’ve given evidence to Committees and led on briefings to politicians, alongside our partners at Shelter and Cymorth Cymru to share with politicians our ideas for how the law could be further strengthened. Some changes have made it through to the final law. Meanwhile, other suggested changes narrowly missed the cut by one vote in a tense debate at the Senedd. However, we will continue to raise these points as the Welsh Government develops the guidance that will sit alongside the new law.  

So what comes next?  

While we want to celebrate this significant step forward in working towards ending homelessness in Wales, our work won't stop here.   

We now need to ensure that the new law works well in practice. No law is perfect and our policy team in Wales will be looking to ensure that the guidance on the new law is effective and addresses areas that hold potential to be open to misinterpretation.  

The team will also be calling on the next Welsh Government after the Senedd election this May to ensure that the new law is resourced, funded and has a clear plan for being put into practice. 

Read our manifesto

And, with set review points ahead to look at how the law is working, we’ll be making sure we continue to push for improved support for people facing homelessness. We’ll keep working to ensure the new law delivers real change.  

In addition, we’ll continue to call for more affordable homes, particularly social homes, which is another crucial part of ending homelessness in Wales. 

Stay tuned for more details on our calls for the next Welsh parliament! 

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