Wales
Street football Wales
Street Football Wales is a social inclusion project run in Wales. They run street football leagues across Wales, select the Welsh Homeless World Cup Team, and pride themselves on providing a supportive and non-judgemental environment to those who have been rejected by society and offer them a way to improve their situation.
Street Football Wales are helped in achieving their mission by their Patron Michael Sheen OBE, national ambassadors, who are important figures in Welsh football; Ashley Williams (Swansea City defender and national team player), Loren Dykes (Bristol Academy and national team player), Ash Randall (professional football freestyler and 17 times Guinness world record holder), and Cheryl Foster (Wales’ most capped player and record goal scorer).
Country statistics
13 out of 189 in Human Development Index rating
(UNDP, 2019) [United Kingdom]
$38, 950 Average annual salary per person (World Bank, 2021) [United KingDom]
41% of households who were homeless in 2019-20 were supported into housing (Welsh Government, 2020).
Wales is part of the United Kingdom and has a population of 3.1 million. Wales hosted the Homeless World Cup in capital city Cardiff in 2019.
Wales is moving to become a Nation of Sanctuary, aiming to help all people seeking sanctuary to integrate well into communities (Welsh Government, 2021). Figures from the Home Office indicate that there are currently 2,353 asylum seekers living in Wales, and according to the Welsh Refugee Council in Cardiff, just over 10,000 refugees (Welsh Government, 2019).
Tragically at least 688 people died while homeless in 2020 in England and Wales. The total, despite falling from 2019, is 42% higher than when records began in 2013 (Guardian, 2021).
The number of households in Wales assessed as homeless in 2019-20 was 12,399. Of these, 41% were successfully helped to secure accommodation.
During 2019-20, homelessness was successfully prevented for at least 6 months in 67% of cases (6,699 households). The successful homelessness prevention rate has remained consistent since 2017-18.
The number of households in temporary accommodation, as of 31 March 2020, was up 4% to the previous year to 2,324 households. This is the highest figure since legislation was introduced in April 2015 (Welsh Government, 2020).
STORIES From the region
