Newport East

Visit to Solas-Cymru 25 March 2007

Tackling homelessness is key to social justice

Jessica Morden MP for Newport East today visited the Compass Centre run by the Solas-Cymru organisation on the 27th of March. Touring the facilities and meeting with the staff and directors she discussed the work of the organisation and the difficulties they face.

Jessica Morden MP said "Today's visit has given me an insight to the extent of the issue and the vital role that organisations such as Solas play in tackling the problem locally and providing solutions that are appropriate for this community.

Jessica Morden MP continued: "Some people still have difficulty securing appropriate housing for a variety of reasons and one person without a home is one person too many. It is essential that we support community organisations such as Solas-Cymru to and tackle this problem together. The government is committed to tackling the causes of homelessness in all our communities and provide greater access to affordable, safe and appropriate housing. The commitment to a mix of local authority, housing association and private sector housing available to buy and rent and mechanisms to help people get on to the housing ladder coupled with investment has meant that rough sleeping is down by 73% since 1998.

"There should be no place for homelessness in 21st century Britain. We cannot talk about social justice without this commitment".

Solas Cymru said "We are delighted that Jessica Morden was able to visit and see first hand the problems caused by homelessness in Newport East. The National, Welsh and Local Government have put into place policies, resources and introduced changes that will now begin to help tackle homelessness and its causes, and its through organisations like Solas working with the individuals and others that we hope to see real changes over the next few years."