'More people than ever before are seeking homelessness support', says Cardiff Council
The council say the city's temporary accommodation is full due to high demand.
Cardiff Council have announced plans for another 280 new council homes for the city, which they say is to help ease the housing pressures facing the council.
The council said there are 'more people than ever before seeking homelessness support and the city's temporary accommodation is all full'.
As part of its response to this housing situation, the Council is proposing to acquire three more properties in the city that would provide a further 280 units of accommodation.
This is in addition to the property and land purchases already in process to help tackle demand.
The new plans, which involve acquiring an existing student accommodation block of 103 apartments, an operational hotel providing more than 150 units and a 20-bed House of Multiple Occupation, will be discussed by Cabinet at its meeting on September 26.
Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne, said:
"The plans we announced earlier this year to increase the range and sufficiency of accommodation in the city are moving along well, but these alone will not be enough to meet the pressures we're experiencing now, and what's ahead over the coming year.
"Fresh challenges are emerging all the time, so it's vital that we are constantly looking for new options to boost the availability of affordable housing.": Cllr Lynda Thorne
As well as outlining the recommendation to progress with the further property purchases, subject to financial viability and the necessary grant funding being in place, the report to Cabinet also provides an update on the on-going housing emergency.
Update on the 'housing emergency':
Temporary accommodation is full, with 563 families currently residing in standard temporary accommodation and 183 in hotels.
Accommodation for single people is also operating at capacity with 780 individuals in temporary and emergency accommodation in addition to 153 individuals in hotel provision, while the number of rough sleepers in the city has remained at around 50 individuals.
Cllr Thorne, added: "Current homelessness demand remains extremely challenging.
"We had hoped to reduce the number of hotels we've been using as temporary accommodation but that hasn't been possible unfortunately and we remain, still very much in the midst of this emergency"
Following the consultation which took place over the summer, the changes will be taken forward to the council meeting.