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Welsh Government looking at housing grant merger
The Welsh Government is carrying out scoping work on establishing a new housing-related services grant, as an alternative to controversial proposals to merge current funding streams.
Ministers have previously proposed rolling 10 separate grants – housing and non-housing-related – into an Early Intervention, Prevention and Support Grant from 2019/20.
This would include Supporting People – a £125m programme which sees local authorities given cash to fund housing-related support services for people vulnerable to becoming homeless, as well as older and disabled people. The Welsh Government claims 57,000 people a year are helped by the scheme.
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Some providers have raised concerns that the grant merger could lead to cuts in funding for vital support services, as cash-strapped councils focus the funds on more politically popular areas.
A report by the Welsh Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee in May said the changes risk “letting down vulnerable and elderly people” and create uncertainty for the organisations involved.
Ten housing and homelessness bodies in Wales, including Community Housing Cymru, the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru and Cymorth Cymru, later made the case for an alternative to the poverty prevention mega grant.
The Homelessness and Housing-Related Support Grant suggested it would merge Supporting People, Homelessness Prevention Grant, Rent Smart Wales and short-term supported accommodation grants.
The bodies claimed this would help safeguard the future of services while helping the Welsh Government achieve its target to reduce the number of different grant streams it manages.
A spokesperson for the Welsh Government told Inside Housing it is “undertaking work to understand how a separate grant focusing only on housing-related services might meet the aims of our grant integration work”.
“No decision has yet been made on the future of a potential single grant,” the spokesperson added.
It is understood that the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) – which has expressed support for the Early Intervention, Prevention and Support Grant – is softening to the idea of a housing-only grant.
“WLGA is aware of the genuine concerns that have been raised about the inclusion of Supporting People and homelessness monies in the EIPSG [Early Intervention, Prevention and Support Grant] from within the housing sector,” said Anthony Hunt, finance and resources spokesperson for the WLGA and leader of Torfaen Council.
“Local government hugely values the Supporting People programme and the important work it does to support those at risk of homelessness and those who need housing-related support.
“It is because of this that WLGA remains open to finding solutions based on agreement across all stakeholders.”
Update: at 11.53pm 03/08/18 The headline of this article was changed to reflect that the Welsh Government is carry out work to examine the practicalities of establishing a new housing-related grant programme, as opposed to actively working on plans for a housing-related grant merger.
