Powys Council is to bid for a share of a £20 million Welsh Government funding pot to help it keep the 180 homeless people it has supported during the coronavirus lockdown off the streets.

At a meeting of the economy, residents, communities and governance scrutiny committee on Monday, June 1, councillors looked at the figures for homelessness in Powys during the Covid-19 crisis.

Councillor David Selby said: “Looking at the difference between Powys and the overall average, it’s quite pronounced.

“Over 80 per cent of ours are single people when the average across Wales is 60 per cent.

“We have a particular issue, it’s not just about putting a roof over their head, in the vast majority of those cases extra resources are needed from social services and other agencies.

“Are you comfortable we are getting enough support to look after these people?”

Housing solutions manager, Dafydd Evans, told councillors if a bid for funding were successful it would be used on “sticky support”.

Mr Evans said: “Sticky support stays with a person wherever they go, they have to have it.

“The number of cases we have picked up in this period are very complex and demanding.

“We are reviewing with adult social services the current support that we are providing.

“The Welsh Government did announce that £20million was being made available to all local authorities in Wales.

“They acknowledge the good work work that authorities have done in accommodating people due to Covid and don’t want to let them back out on the street, we will be bidding for additional funds once we’ve received the details.”

Director of Economy and Environment, Nigel Brinn added: “We need to make sure we get a fair share of the funding that’s available.”

The latest data on homelessness in Powys shows 97 households are in temporary accommodation, and 18 people are in emergency bed and breakfast accommodation.

Since March 1, the council has dealt with 180 homelessness cases – which compares to 127 over the same period in 2019.

Reasons for homelessness include relationship break-ups including between a parent and child.

The biggest group of homeless people are aged 36 to 59 years old.

More 16 and 17 year olds have needed to be housed.