Homelessness and WBFG

We have a law in Wales that helps us all work together to improve our environment, our economy, our society and our culture.

For people, for our planet. For now, and for our future.

This is called the Well-being of Future Generations Act.

And, I’ve got to say that I buy into it.  That is, until I read the homelessness stats.  In 2024-5, 1,926 households with children were owed the full accommodation duty, with single parent households accounting for 74 per cent of those households.  The Bevan Foundation report noted (at p 8) that, “The latest Welsh Government figures show that 10,933 people were living in temporary accommodation at the end of June 2025. Nearly a quarter of these, 2,604 were children aged under 16”.  The 2025 Crisis Homelessness Monitor found (p 110), “A particular concern in relation to TA has been the growing number of households with children affected. By 31 March 2024, across all forms of TA, 1,755 families were in TA, double the 849 in TA four years earlier”. B&B accommodation use had increased for families from 33 to 408.  There are 390 children under 18 or care leavers between 18-21 in B&B now, according to the stats.  In June 2023, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales said, “3,346 children (under the age of 16) are living in temporary accommodation. 974 of these children are living in hotels or B&B’s”. Public Health Wales found that “People in Wales who have suffered significant adversity in childhood are 16 times more likely than the general population to experience homelessness”.

I have just taught a class where all of my students felt that children should be prioritised for accommodation.  The White Paper noted that there were 3,346 dependent children in temporary accommodation, and reminded us that “According to Public Health Wales, more than one in four of all young people who are care experienced are homeless, 26% have sofa surfed, and 14% have been street homeless” and that:

Children in Wales, regardless of whether they have received care, who experience four or more adverse childhood experiences, are 16 times more likely to experience homelessness and those with supportive family environments have almost 90% lower odds of experiencing homelessness compared with those who do not. Consequently, adolescents who are homeless are more likely to report depressive symptoms and have limited ability to cope with stressors experienced in their lives and increased rates of physical health problems compared to those who live in stable accommodation.

This is a failure of the corporate parenting role and just a failure of the system.  Too much research for too long has established issues in communication between housing and care services, and the White Paper recognised that hose issues remained.  It made important proposals for reform which are in the Bill (see earlier deep dives into the Homelessness and Social Housing allocation Bill).

But, as I have said before, legislation is important in setting out the boundaries of the possible, but doesn’t provide more accommodation for its fulfillment.  If all that can be provided is poor quality TA to homeless people, what does it say about the WBFG?