Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies has expressed concern at plans to convert former condemned housing for the elderly into accommodation for high-needs homeless individuals.
The settled accommodation, at 35-59 Maes Emlyn in Rhyl, would be for individuals who have previously presented themselves to Denbighshire County Council as homeless. People would be able to stay for a minimum of six months and be given support to find permanent homes.
The application, submitted by the local authority, involves the change of use of an existing block on the site [which contains 24 older persons’ apartments, the former warden’s accommodation and community rooms], to provide 24 settled homes for the homeless.
Commenting, James said:
"During the pandemic and since, significant central government support has been provided to help the homeless and keep vulnerable people off the streets but the accommodation available to facilitate this has often been inappropriate. I commend the County Council for investigating options to improve accommodation options.
"However, there will understandably be anxieties that any new or repurposed provision should take proper account of the level of need of all those being offered help. Necessary support certainly needs to be put in place, both for reasons of welfare and community safety.
"With specific reference to plans for Maes Emlyn, I am concerned both at the quality of the accommodation on offer and that the arrangement proposed could end up becoming longer-term in some form or other, or could hold back the planned redevelopment of the site. Rhyl also needs reassurances that the current inappropriate seafront accommodation being used will not be filled up once again by other local authorities and agencies, else the town stands to shoulder additional pressures that it will struggle to manage.
"I believe that solutions to assist high-needs individuals are likely to work best if there are multiple sites limited to several units only and I would ask the council to consider the scale of what they are proposing at Maes Emlyn."
James added:
"The county council has withdrawn the planning application for Maes Emlyn at the present time (bit.ly/MaesEmlynRhyl1). I do however expect them to resubmit it in due course and at that point I would strongly encourage people to respond formally to it.
"In the meantime, I would encourage all to feed their views into the council's Community Engagement programme: https://countyconversation.denbighshire.gov.uk/project/704."
