Wrexham Council seeking more temporary accommodation for homeless people

A local authority is looking to find more temporary accommodation to give homeless people a roof over their heads.

Wrexham Council said it had experienced an increase in demand for short term housing.

As a result, it has launched a bid to try and find extra emergency properties for vulnerable people to live in.

In a tender notice published on the Sell2Wales website, the council said the accommodation should ideally be located within county boundaries.

Officials added that any properties should be available 24 hours a day to meet the unpredictable nature of the service.

They said: “The purchaser is facing increasing demand for temporary accommodation and is seeking to use a new approach with a flexible, reactive service for initial short-term housing and a proactive strategy to procure increased numbers of private sector-Leased properties to provide longer-term solutions for homeless families.

“As part of the purchaser’s statutory obligations, it must provide a range of accommodation assistance for disadvantaged and vulnerable sections of the community who have, in one way or another, become homeless.

“These groups include families, persons with chaotic issues, single persons and persons with a disability.

“The accommodation providers must be able to offer 24-hour, emergency provision of temporary, interim accommodation, as and when required, for seven days a week.

“This is a reactive service which is unpredictable in nature.”

The call for property owners is one of a range of initiatives being pursued by the authority to try and reduce levels of homelessness in Wrexham.

Earlier this year, converted shipping containers were brought in to provide extra homeless shelters in the town.

The new units situated on Holt Road are being used by the council’s housing options service to help people who might be homeless or need support into recovery.

At the time they were launched, council leader Mark Pritchard described the project as ‘the first of its kind’ in North Wales.

By Liam Randall – BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme).