Welsh Labour’s Minister for Climate Change, Julie James, is urging anyone who has fallen behind in paying rent because of the pandemic to contact their local authority to find out if they can receive financial help to avoid eviction.
The call is in a bid to keep people in their homes and close to their social networks to avoid the devastating impact that homelessness can wreak on physical, mental and social wellbeing.
First announced in July last year, new changes to the £10m Tenancy Hardship Grant mean that anyone facing arrears due to covid-related reasons from the start of the pandemic in March 2020 right up until December 2021, can apply.
This means that tenants in rent arrears because they lost their jobs following the removal of the Furlough scheme in September, or who suffered a significant decrease in income when the Universal Credit uplift was removed by UK Government, may now be eligible under the new criteria.
You can read more about this announcement here.