Experts gather to discuss causes of rough sleeping
City centre businesses will hear from sector experts on homelessness in the city at an event designed to explain the causes and issues around rough sleeping in Cardiff.
Cardiff Council will deliver a presentation to businesses alongside other agencies including Llamau, DrugAid, Pobl and bigmoose at the invite-only event which will also hear from young people who have experienced homelessness.
Leader of Cardiff Council, Cllr Huw Thomas, who will speak at the event said: "We were approached by Chris Nott from Capital Law - who has arranged this event - to come along and talk to businesses about the increase in rough sleeping and to explain the reasons for it and what we are doing with partner agencies to help alleviate it.
"Rough sleeping in the city has more than doubled in the past few years and there are now up to 70 people on our streets facing the terrible uncertainty that homelessness brings.
"We're committed to working with individuals to support them to access services and our Outreach team works 7 days a week both during the day and into the evening to engage with people sleeping rough or who are at risk of sleeping rough. We also work with homeless charities such as Huggard, the Salvation Army, Wallich and the YMCA to provide hostel accommodation, a day centre for the homeless, and a night bus service.
"However, individuals who sleep rough often have enormously complex issues and in some circumstances choose not to access our accommodation, instead sleeping rough for many years. In these circumstances, our Outreach team works directly with them on a daily basis.
"Unfortunately many of the people sleeping rough in Cardiff come from outside the city and have no local connection. This results in added pressure on services, so where appropriate we work with partners to help reconnect these individuals to their home area.
Chris Nott, senior partner at Capital Law, and the event organiser, said: "Llamau's Ending Youth Homelessness campaign is a really worthwhile initiative and something I'm really pleased to be able to be involved with. They already have the support of the Welsh Government, Michael Sheen and his following, and we're hopeful that this event will bring the discussion into the business community. It'll be interesting to see how Cardiff's business minds approach this problem, which typically hasn't crossed into the business sphere.
"We hope that the event will facilitate a better understanding among the business community, so that they can engage with the issue and open the door to future involvement."