Labour MP Chris Elmore was given a warm welcome by Emmaus South Wales last week (September 27).
Chris, who has served as a Labour MP for Bridgend since 2016, visited both our Nant Lais Community and our Tremains Road Superstore to see how our unique model supports people out of homelessness.
Commenting on his visit, Chris said: “It was an absolute pleasure to catch up with the dedicated team at Emmaus South Wales, they really do offer a wide breadth of opportunities in working with homeless people to transform their lives’’.
Accommodation and Support Officer Claire said: “We were delighted to welcome Chris to our community house, to give him tours of both our communal living accommodation and our Superstore, as well as have the opportunity to discuss ways to tackle homelessness both in Bridgend and across Wales.
“Chris also spoke to companions supported by Emmaus South Wales about their personal experiences with homelessness, their recovery, and journey towards independent living’’.
Our work aligns with the broader goals outlined in the Emmaus UK manifesto, which calls for significant government action to address the root causes of homelessness and improve support systems nationwide. The six key steps Emmaus UK would like the new government to take are:
1) Act on supported housing: take forward and properly consult on the Supported Housing Act, which will introduce national standards across the country.
2) Create more affordable homes: build 90,000 social rent homes per year, keep Local Housing Allowance unfrozen to improve the affordability of the private rented sector, and finally abolish Section 21 evictions.
3) Take a cross-government approach: launch a cross-department task force on ending homelessness led by the Cabinet Office, which brings together policy on housing, work, social care, justice and more to produce a rounded strategy, with commitments for every department.
4) Invest for the long term: review all current spending on homelessness, and replace temporary and short-term funding with a long-term, ringfenced homelessness fund.
5) On the ground consultation: put community insights at the heart of national policy solutions, so that people with lived experience of homelessness are listened to, including in the implementation of the Supported Housing Act, and through the cross-government task force Emmaus is backing.
6) No-one criminalised for being homeless: ensure the punitive measures on homelessness in the Criminal Justice Bill do not return to Parliament, and that the outdated Vagrancy Act is scrapped.
The manifesto signals a fresh approach to policy and campaigning by the charity, which is now proactively engaging with government officials to take action on homelessness and ensure ministers addresses the issue’s root causes.