Sam Rowlands, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, says there is a lack of short, medium and long-term planning by Welsh Government on homelessness.
Mr Rowlands, Shadow Minister for Local Government was speaking in the Senedd during the Welsh Conservatives Debate: Homelessness.
He said:
I think it is an important debate, because it's an issue that afflicts far too many modern developed societies, and Wales is no exception.
In particular, the number of individuals rough-sleeping in Wales is a matter of absolute shame. It's at its highest level since 2020, and it's even more noticeable at this time when the cold is starting to bite, and it must be even more intolerable for those people who are rough-sleeping on our streets across Wales.
It is, of course, important to draw a distinction between those who are identified as homeless—around 11,000, currently in Wales, many of whom are in temporary accommodation such as B&Bs—and those,, who are rough-sleeping—around 200 that we are aware of.
In particular, for those rough-sleeping, there is a huge amount more that we must do to tackle this issue. Specifically identifying those issues needs to take place, and I'm concerned to understand that there is a significant level of inconsistency in the way in which councils across Wales seem to gather data on those who are rough-sleeping.
In my mind, we certainly need to make sure enough houses are being built as this is fundamental to dealing with homelessness. I do sometimes get concerned that we hear all sorts of initiatives, programmes, projects, schemes that are either in train or bounced around some blue-sky-thinking room, when actually, if all that energy, time, effort and resource was put into ensuring enough houses were getting built, we'd actually see much more significant progress.
We know that the Labour Government here have pledged to build 20,000 new low-carbon social homes for rent, but we know that that is going to be very, very difficult to achieve. There are likely to be more problems at the end of this Senedd term than at the start of it.
All of this combined seems to show a lack of short, medium and long-term planning. The number of people on the streets has increased. The quality of monitoring seems to be poor. There simply aren't the properties for people to go into on a long-term basis, which has a significant knock-on effect. Homelessness, rather than not being debated in this Chamber, needs to be discussed more.
We need to see it being gripped and solutions found quickly so that the thousands of people currently living in limbo with temporary accommodation, and the hundreds of people sadly rough-sleeping, can see their circumstances change, and change quickly.
Sam Rowlands AS yn dweud nad oes digon yn cael ei wneud i fynd i’r afael â digartrefedd yn y Gogledd
Yn ôl Sam Rowlands, Aelod o’r Senedd dros y Gogledd, mae diffyg cynllunio tymor byr, canolig a hirdymor gan Lywodraeth Cymru ar ddigartrefedd.
Roedd Mr Rowlands, Gweinidog Llywodraeth Leol yr Wrthblaid yn siarad yn y Senedd yn ystod dadl y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig ar ddigartrefedd.
Meddai:
Dwi'n credu ei bod yn drafodaeth bwysig, oherwydd mae'n fater sy'n poeni llawer gormod o gymdeithasau datblygedig modern, ac nid yw Cymru yn eithriad.
Yn benodol, mae nifer yr unigolion sy'n cysgu ar y stryd yng Nghymru yn destun cywilydd llwyr. Mae ar ei lefel uchaf ers 2020, ac mae hyd yn oed yn fwy amlwg ar hyn o bryd gyda’r oerfel yn dechrau brathu, a rhaid ei fod hyd yn oed yn fwy annioddefol i'r bobl hynny sy'n cysgu allan ar ein strydoedd ledled Cymru.
Mae'n bwysig, wrth gwrs, gwahaniaethu rhwng y rhai sy'n bobl ddigartref - tua 11,000, yng Nghymru ar hyn o bryd, llawer ohonyn nhw mewn llety dros dro fel llety gwely a brecwast – a'r rheini, sy'n cysgu allan – rydyn ni’n ymwybodol o tua 200 ohonyn nhw.
Yn benodol, yn achos y rhai sy'n cysgu allan, mae llawer iawn mwy y mae'n rhaid i ni ei wneud i fynd i'r afael â'r mater hwn. Mae angen deall y problemau hynny'n benodol, ac mae’n destun pryder deall bod yna lefel sylweddol o anghysondeb yn y ffordd y mae'n ymddangos bod cynghorau ledled Cymru’n casglu data ar y rhai sy'n cysgu allan.
Yn fy marn i, does dim dwywaith bod angen i ni sicrhau bod digon o dai yn cael eu hadeiladu gan fod hyn yn hanfodol i ymdrin â digartrefedd. Dwi'n poeni weithiau ein bod yn clywed am bob math o fentrau, rhaglenni, prosiectau a chynlluniau sydd naill ai’n cael eu hystyried neu eu trafod fan hyn fan draw, ond mewn gwirionedd, pe bai'r holl egni, amser, ymdrech ac adnoddau’n cael eu defnyddio i sicrhau bod digon o dai yn cael eu hadeiladu, byddem yn gweld cynnydd llawer mwy sylweddol mewn gwirionedd.
Rydyn ni'n gwybod bod y Llywodraeth Lafur yma wedi addo adeiladu 20,000 o gartrefi cymdeithasol carbon isel newydd i'w rhentu, ond rydyn ni'n gwybod y bydd hynny'n anodd iawn, iawn i'w gyflawni. Mae'n debyg y bydd mwy o broblemau ar ddiwedd tymor y Senedd hon nag ar ei dechrau.
Mae'n ymddangos bod hyn i gyd gyda'i gilydd yn dangos diffyg cynllunio tymor byr, canolig a thymor hir. Mae nifer y bobl ar y strydoedd wedi cynyddu. Mae'n ymddangos bod ansawdd y monitro yn wael. Yn syml, does dim cartrefi i bobl fynd iddynt yn yr hirdymor, sy'n cael effaith ganlyniadol sylweddol. Mae angen trafod mwy am ddigartrefedd, yn hytrach na pheidio â’i drafod yn y Siambr hon.
Mae angen i ni fynd i’r afael â’r sefyllfa a chanfod atebion yn gyflym fel bod y miloedd o bobl sy'n byw mewn ansicrwydd mewn llety dros dro, a'r cannoedd o bobl sy'n cysgu ar y stryd yn anffodus, yn gallu gweld eu hamgylchiadau'n newid, ac yn newid yn gyflym.
