National homelessness charity, Crisis, has this evening welcomed news that Members of the Senedd have given the go-ahead to a new “life-changing” law on homelessness in Wales. 

The charity has been calling for reforms to the law on homelessness for a number of years and says that the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocations Bill includes much needed changes to drive down high levels of homelessness. 

This includes measures to both prevent people from being pushed into homelessness and improve support for people who do not have a stable place to call home, such as: 

• Enabling people at risk of homelessness to get help much sooner 

• Placing new duties on other public services to work together to help prevent homelessness 

• Improving support for people facing homelessness. 

These changes to the law come at a critical time as Wales has exceptionally high levels of homelessness. Just last year, councils across the country recorded nearly 13,300 households as homeless. And each month, around 11,000 people are living in temporary accommodation – often without access to basic cooking and laundry facilities. 

Crisis was asked to co-ordinate an Expert Review Panel in 2022 to make recommendations to the Welsh Government on how changes to the law could help to make homelessness rare, brief and unrepeated. The charity welcomes measures within the new law, many of which are based on these recommendations, and rooted within the feedback from more than 300 people with lived experience of homelessness in Wales. 

Members of the Senedd across all parties voted to give the Bill the seal of approval during Plenary this evening. 

Matt Downie, Chief Executive at Crisis, said: “This is truly a landmark day in Wales. The new Homelessness and Social Housing Allocations Bill has the potential to be life-changing for the thousands of people across Wales that are facing the trauma that comes from living without a stable place to call home. 

“The new law includes world-leading measures which aim to drive down high levels of homelessness and help to prevent people from being pushed into homelessness in the first place. 

“It also looks to improve the support available to people who are experiencing homelessness, and to address many of the barriers we see in our frontline services day in, day out. 

“We’re grateful to everyone who has helped to shape these crucial changes to the law, including people Crisis supports who bravely shared their first-hand experience of homelessness in Wales to help create a better future. 

“But the work does not end here. The Welsh Government and incoming Members of the Senedd after the elections in May 2026 must now invest in the proper implementation of these new laws. It is critical that services have the guidance, funding and resources to really deliver the ambition of the Bill and work towards ending homelessness.” 

Over the past few years, members of Crisis with lived experience have shared their experiences to help shape the changes. 

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

Another Crisis member, Rhiannon, welcomed new measures which will enable people at risk of homelessness to get support up to six months before they become homeless. Rhiannon said: “Having just weeks to try and prevent my homelessness felt really restricting. There was no time and I had no space to breathe around it and plan. Having more time to work on preventing homelessness would make a big difference.” 

As the Bill progressed through parliamentary scrutiny, Crisis and other homelessness organisations pushed for amendments to further strengthen the new law. While, disappointingly, many of these amendments narrowly missed getting passed in a Plenary vote last week, Crisis remains very positive about the new law in its entirety.  It presents a significant opportunity to establish transformative new ways of working that could help to turn the tide on high levels of homelessness.

As we now look to the Senedd elections in May and the phased implementation of the new law, Crisis is keen to ensure that a clear implementation plan, strong guidance and resourcing for the new law is in place so that the new law can be as effective as possible for people experiencing homelessness across Wales. 

Notes to Editors

Crisis is the national charity for people facing homelessness across Wales, Scotland and England. We provide services directly to people experiencing homelessness, carry out research into the causes and consequences of homelessness, and campaign for the changes needed to end it. 

In 2022-2023, Crisis was invited by the then- Minister, Julie James, to co-ordinate an Expert Review Panel. The panel was tasked with considering evidence and consulting widely in order to make recommendations on how legislative change could help to end homelessness. More details on the Expert Review Panel are available here: Wales Expert Review Panel 

For more statistics on homelessness in Wales, visit: Homelessness statistics | GOV.WALES.