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Challenges to Implementing the New Homelessness Prevention Agenda in Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2019

Anya Ahmed ,
Iolo Madoc-Jones ,
Andrea Gibbons ,
Katy Jones ,
Michaela Rogers  and
Mark Wilding
Anya Ahmed
Affiliation:
University of Salford E-mail: A.Ahmed@salford.ac.uk
Iolo Madoc-Jones
Affiliation:
Wrexham Glyndŵr University E-mail: i.m.jones@glyndwr.ac.uk
Andrea Gibbons
Affiliation:
University of Salford E-mail: A.R.Gibbons1@salford.ac.uk
Katy Jones
Affiliation:
Manchester Metropolitan University E-mail: katy.jones@mmu.ac.uk
Michaela Rogers
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield E-mail: m.rogers@sheffield.ac.uk
Mark Wilding
Affiliation:
University of Salford E-mail: M.A.Wilding@salford.ac.uk
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Abstract

Devolution presented an opportunity for the Welsh Government to introduce changes to housing and homelessness policy, and the subsequent homelessness reforms are seen as one of the best examples to date of the Welsh Government using its powers. However, devolved governments in small countries face a number of challenges in terms of realising their housing policy ambitions. In this article we argue that there is inevitable dissonance between the policy behind the Welsh Government legislation (prevention) and practice (implementation) associated with structural challenges (for example, austerity and budget restrictions, Welfare Reform and the availability of affordable accommodation). In response we propose a number of actions the Welsh Government might undertake to attempt to mitigate such structural challenges which also resonate in the English context where welfare retrenchment and homelessness prevention policies operate simultaneously.

Keywords

Homelessness preventionthe Housing Act (Wales) 2014
Type
Themed Section: Homelessness Prevention in an International Policy Context
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 157 - 169
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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