Prince William visits Newport to launch milestone report to address women’s homelessness

Today, Prince William visited Newport, one of six Homewards locations, to hear about the local Coalition’s approach to preventing women’s homelessness in the city and unveil commitments from local organisations who have pledged their support.

Joined by Homewards Advocate, Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, this exciting visit saw the Homewards Newport Coalition publish a milestone report addressing women’s homelessness in the city named the Newport Women’s Homelessness Joint Strategic Needs Assessment [JSNA].

With the Homewards Newport Coalition having identified that women with multiple disadvantages are a priority cohort in Wales, they advised that the first step in delivering change for this group would be to undertake the JSNA.

The first of its kind to focus specifically on women experiencing homelessness in the city, this report was written by the Homewards Newport Coalition Women’s Working Group and featured input from coalition members including NHS Wales, Cyfannol Women’s Aid, Newport City Council and the POBL Group.

This assessment represents a significant collective effort to address the issues and inequalities women face in terms of health and homelessness and will be a key tool for supporting action planning in shaping effective local policies and the best forms of intervention to improve the lives of women in Newport.

To kickstart this important work, The Prince joined a meeting of local partners who have all committed to delivering this activity, and discuss how these commitments can be built upon to help address and prevent women’s homelessness in Newport. The commitments are as follows:

NHS Wales has committed to funding an Early Intervention Worker, with a focus on ensuring women are able to access the right support at first point of contact. The role will allow women who are at risk of homelessness to be identified earlier and ensure they can access support faster, preventing them from reaching crisis point.

For the first time in Newport– and as a result of being brought together by Homewards– POBL, Newport City Homes and Newport City Council have committed to working together to explore introducing women specific properties to Newport. This would mean an increased supply of housing specifically for women in more areas, meaning they have more chances to access accommodation when they need it most.

The Nelson Trust has committed to providing further trauma informed approaches and training across Newport. This will ensure that professionals across a diverse range of organisations are equipped to better support individuals who have experienced trauma. This will help to prevent discrimination and poor practice in frontline services which could lead to more women being at risk of homelessness.

Women of Newport, a community-based group, will launch a brand-new photography exhibition aimed at educating and changing narratives around female homelessness in Newport.

The launch of the JSNA and the unprecedented support package today from organisations across Newport marks major progress towards addressing the unique experience of women experiencing or at risk of homelessness in Newport. This collaborative effort also demonstrates what can be achieved by working together to prevent and end homelessness in the UK – making it rare, brief and unrepeated.