New figures published by the Welsh Assembly Government show that the number of households accepted as homeless between April and June 2010 is up by 10 per cent on the same period last year.
While the overall homelessness figures have remained relatively unchanged since the previous quarter, it is noticeable that the proportion of households accepted as homeless due to loss of accommodation, including mortgage and rent arrears, has been increasing.
Ceri Dunstan of Shelter Cymru said: “We are extremely concerned about the pattern identified here, but unfortunately it doesn’t come as a surprise.
“The proportion of mortgage repossession cases handled by Shelter Cymru advisers has trebled over the last three to four years and in a survey carried out for us earlier this year by YouGov, nearly half of those questioned who had a mortgage or paid rent said they struggled at least some of the time to meet their payments.
“In our view, the cuts proposed by the Westminster government to housing benefit and local housing allowance (the housing benefit paid to tenants in the private rented sector) will only make this situation worse.
“The Department for Work and Pensions’ own figures show that almost everyone who receives LHA in Wales will be worse off by an average of nine pounds a week.
“When you consider that many LHA recipients already make up the difference between their benefit and the cost of their rent, it is almost inevitable that there will be many more people falling into arrears and facing homelessness, which in turn will put a huge financial and social strain on local authorities and support services.
“We can expect to see the pattern identified in these latest statistics to become more pronounced as welfare and public spending cuts start to bite, so we urge anyone who is worried about getting into difficulties to get independent advice as soon as possible.”
