9 people presenting as homeless ‘turned away’ last night at shelter

Councillor Dave Griffiths told the Executive Board meeting this morning that nine people presenting as homeless last night had to be turned away from homeless shelters as there was no capacity.

Cllr Griffiths was giving an update to the meeting on the snow response from his department as Lead Member for Place and Housing at Wrexham Council.

Wrexham Council triggered their bad weather policy early on Friday rather than waiting for the proscribed temperatures to bottom out, which would force the activation.

Cllr Griffiths said that Tŷ Nos and St Johns have been fully occupied, he added that there were several rough sleepers visible in shop doorways over the weekend however they had been approached by staff to ask if any help was wanted but they were ‘happy to remain where they were’.

The update also noted a situation from last night, where temperatures dropped to a year low, with overnight presentations at Tŷ Nos numbering 31 people – with 9 having to be turned away as there was no space.

With the temperatures only rising by one or two degrees today and the issue likely to be repeated in a few hours time tonight, Cllr Griffiths said urgent meetings were being held through the day to try and solve the problem.

Cllr Griffiths also said that there had been 53 out of hours call outs over the last few days on top of the normal in hours service calls. He related the dedication of Council staff that were parking up vans and walking to properties to ensure they got through, rather than leaving jobs. The meeting was told ongoing work is planned this week to deal with issues such as damaged guttering and slates and ‘will be dealt with as comes in’.