THE chief executive of a North Wales housing association has reassured its tenants that help is at hand if they are facing any difficulties at their properties.

Clare Budden, who has been chief executive at ClwydAlyn for nearly five years, said the organisation also plans to open up more regular dialogue with all of its tenants, amid a particularly difficult period with the cost of living and housing crises enveloping the region.

ClwydAlyn operates in seven counties across North Wales, and plans to deliver 1,500 more homes by 2025 on top of its current total of roughly 6,200.

With more than 35 years’ experience of working in housing, Clare said she is sympathetic to the predicaments many tenants are finding themselves in currently, but said ClwydAlyn is committed to doing everything it can to help.

She said: “At ClwydAlyn, we think providing the home is only the start. We know some of the poorest people in Wales live in social housing, so we want to do what we can to try and support our tenants around that.

“We’ve had austerity for over 10 years, COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, the highest inflation for years… it’s a really, really tough time for everyone.

“We visit people who are struggling to put the heating on and buy food. You can’t underestimate how challenging it is, with the number of homeless people across North Wales. We’re absolutely seeing more people struggling to get by.”

Last February, it was reported that Conwy’s bill for placing homeless people in temporary accommodation has doubled in the last year.

The county was also found to have the fourth-highest number of people living in temporary accommodation in Wales, and 1,643 waiting on the housing register.

And last July, a Denbighshire County Council report revealed about 180 households in the county are placed in temporary accommodation every year.

The report also found that one family of three even lived in a cellar, and that a large number of those presenting as homeless are single people aged 35 or younger, and large families.

Despite this, the council said it has secured tenancies for 99 households in social housing in the last 18 months.

The report showed the number of people living on the street in Denbighshire was in single figures.

Claire added: “I’m not saying we have all the answers, but we recognise the real problems people are facing.

“We don’t evict anyone – what we say to people struggling to pay rent is: ‘What’s the problem, and how can we help?

“We’ll agree a really sensible payment plan; even if someone can only pay £1 a week off their rent arrears, that’s OK.

“We obviously need everyone to pay, but we need to be empathetic. If we take their home off them, we’re not helping their situation.”

Among ClwydAlyn’s ongoing projects including a £10.4million project on Anglesey to build 54 new homes, and a £3.9m development on Rhyl’s Edward Henry Street.

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This will see 33 of the street’s existing flats be demolished, prior to the construction of 13 three-bedroom affordable family homes.

But Clare admitted that the housing association’s efforts will only go so far in addressing the shortage of home across North Wales.

Clare said: “We’re building over 500 new homes in North Wales at the moment, but that’s still only a drop in the ocean on council waiting lists.

“One of the problems is having enough permanent homes for people in temporary homeless services to move into.

“We keep our rents affordable, so if it costs us more to build a house, it doesn’t mean we’re going to charge a new tenant more money; it just means we’ve got more borrowing to pay back out of people’s rents.”

The impacts of the housing crisis have also taken its toll on ClwydAlyn’s staff, more of whom, Clare said are asking for their pay early, while the company is committed to paying the Real Living Wage for all employees.

All of its homeless services are funded though Welsh Government’s Housing Support Grant, but with a static figure forecast for the next financial year, things may yet become harder before they improve.

Clare added: “I’m a realist; I think we’re unlikely to get anything other than a fixed budget, which essentially means a 10 per cent cut.

“One of the big issues is nowhere (in North Wales) has enough flat for single, younger people. That’s the most difficult group for us to address, because we don’t have enough of what people want or need.

“One guy living in one of our homeless services has talked really openly about the fact he had been a drug addict from a young age and had twice been evicted, been in prison, lost his children and partners, and now, (with) support from staff, he’s getting his life back on track.

“We’ve had staff who’ve spoken to us about how they’re struggling to pay their rent or mortgage… it’s really worrying when you see what’s going on behind people’s doors.

“In the next few weeks, we’re going to be knocking on the doors of everyone who we’ve not heard from, to check if everything’s OK. We want to be really open and transparent.

“If people have an issue, we want to know about it. If we get it wrong, we’ll say so, and we’ll do everything we can to put things right.”