Politics
Homelessness addressed as Wales passes landmark housing law
The Welsh government has unanimously passed the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation Bill into law, which experts have labelled “life-changing”
The Senedd passed the new law on February 10, 2026, and it will provide support far sooner than current legislation allows, preventing people from losing their homes and falling into homelessness.
It will also require public services to work together to prevent homelessness and to allocate social housing to those most at risk.
The bill will:
• Expand access to homelessness services and provide additional support to those who need it most.
• Widen responsibility to certain specified public authorities to identify individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and respond effectively.
• Prioritise allocation of social housing to those most in need.
Homelessness — a growing crisis
From April 2024 to March 2025, 13,287 households were homeless in Wales. Local councils only secured accommodation for 25% of these.
The total number of households staying in temporary accommodation was 6,285. Of these, 2,397 (38%) were staying in unsuitable bed and breakfasts.
As it stands, local authorities can only take action 56 days before someone falls into homelessness. The new law will extend this to six months.
The bill also commits to scrapping both priority need and the intentionally homeless. However, it does not give a date for doing so.
As it stands, priority need means that certain groups, such as pregnant women, people with children, young people, care leavers, and victims of domestic abuse, are accepted as being a higher priority for homelessness assistance.
Being ‘intentionally homeless’ technically means that a person is homeless, or threatened with homelessness, due to something they deliberately did or failed to do.
However, local authorities often use it as a guise for refusing help to people who have to leave unsafe situations, such as traumatised women having to leave mixed-sex accommodation, or young people feeling unsafe in adult hostels.
If a council deems someone intentionally homeless, it does not have to offer long-term housing.
Social housing allocation
The bill has placed all registered social housing providers under a new legal obligation to assist people experiencing homelessness. It has also given ministers new powers to issue orders to these providers, requiring them to comply.
However, some organisations have criticised the bill for failing to outlaw the use of unsafe temporary accommodation.
According to the Bevan Foundation:
At present, local authorities only need to have “due regard” to the various legal standards on the suitability of accommodation when fulfilling their homelessness duties. This includes having “due regard” to whether the property is fit for human habitation and the presence of Category 1 hazards such as damp and mould, excessive cold, fire risk and structural issues like unstable staircases.
The organisation previously published a report on the dangers of unsuitable accommodation. It highlighted how temporary
accommodation causes physical harm to children, along with the fact that local authorities are not meeting or enforcing regulations.
Other amendments related to protecting victims of domestic violence and abuse had been put forward, but not included.
Matt Downie, Chief Executive at Crisis, said:
The new Homelessness and Social Housing Allocations Bill has the potential to be life-changing for the thousands of people across Wales that are facing the trauma that comes from living without a stable place to call home.
But the work does not end here. The Welsh Government and incoming Members of the Senedd after the elections in May 2026 must now invest in the proper implementation of these new laws. It is critical that services have the guidance, funding and resources to really deliver the ambition of the Bill and work towards ending homelessness.
Feature image via Centre for Homelessness Impact