Agenda item

Proposed by:           Cllr Rhys Taylor

Seconded by:          Cllr Joseph Carter

This council notes that:

• homelessness is devastating, dangerous and isolating.
• the average age of death for people experiencing homeless ness is 46 for men and 42 for women.
• people sleeping on the street are almost 17 times more likely to have been victims of violence.  More than one in three people sleeping rough have been  deliberately hit or kicked or experienced some other form of violence whilst homeless.
• people experiencing homelessness are over nine times more likely to take their one life than the general population.
• LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately affected by youth homelessness.  24% of the youth homelessness across the UK identified as LGBT.
• Newcastle Council has committed to plans to end homelessness in their local areas, looking at supply, prevention, re-housing, the private rented sector, and welfare support.

This council believes that homelessness isn’t inevitable and can be ended, and calls on the administration to establish a Homelessness Task Force tasked with developing a plan to end homelessness in Cardiff that includes:

• Ending the use of hostile architecture in the built environment
• Setting out engagement with South Wales Police to end all use of the Vagrancy Act and related anti-homelessness measures
• Improving temporary accommodation, including for vulnerable groups such as LGB and trans people
• Increasing the overall share of social housing in the city
• Setting out options relating to increasing council tax premiums on empty and second homes to 300% to support housing and homelessness activity.