NEARLY 100 homeless or potentially homeless applications were completed and submitted to Torfaen County Borough Council between June 1 and July 25 this year.

Within these applications, 19 were allegedly rough sleeping in Torfaen.

Out of the 19 rough sleepers in Torfaen, seven have been housed and are in temporary accommodation.

The Wallich, a leading homelessness and rough sleeping charity in Wales, was unable to confirm that seven were rough sleeping.

Five are still currently rough sleeping within Torfaen.

Shawn Kenny, Torfaen services manager of The Wallich, said: “One new person sleeping rough appeared in Torfaen yesterday.

“They are camping but known to be a transient entrenched in rough sleeping and known to other Wallich outreach teams in Wales.”

The main reasons for presentation are 'no fault' section 21 notices – where the landlord wants the property back. The Wallich are seeing that some of these properties come back on the market at a much higher rent.

South Wales Argus:

The second and third reasons are relationship breakdown between couples and parents.

Mr Kenny said: “There are barriers to accessing housing.

“Barriers to getting people back into Private Rented sector (PRS) is cost of rental properties and the amount of deposit required which can be 6 months’ rent upfront in extreme cases.

“Barriers to getting people into Registered Social Landlord (RSL) properties is due to the lack of social housing properties.

“Current waiting time for a single person in temporary accommodation to being allocated social housing is now over 18 months.

“All of our services in Torfaen speak to each other and other agencies, creating a pathway of services at different points of someone’s journey.

The Wallich support people by holding drop-ins and many people are signposted through the official local authority gateway and StreetLink app.

The Wallich Torfaen has 29 staff members supporting people who are currently or at risk of homelessness and have 8 vacant roles which are a mixture of full and part time roles.