'It's turned my life around': Former Merthyr care home being used for the homeless

• Video report by Mike Griffiths.

A former Merthyr Tydfil care home has been transformed to help house homeless people in the area.

Marsh House in Merthyr Tydfil was previously the Glan-yr-Afon Care Home and the building's refurbishment has been supported by the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns Capital Funding and core capital funding from Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council (MTCBC).

For one resident, Marsh House has "turned his life around."

Simon Sharpe says he became homeless after a relationship breakdown and struggled to find somewhere to live. He ended up living in his car for around four months.

The council then sent him to the a hotel where he stayed for eight months.

“The people were nice, it’s just there were certain aspects of the hotel - it had a reputation," Simon said of his experience there.

He was then selected to come to Marsh House.

“This place has turned my life around - it’s absolutely fantastic here,” he said

“My mental health was hit really badly,” he added. “I didn’t know what I was doing every day. I wasn’t sleeping at all, I was awake for days. It was a struggle. But the first two nights I came here, I slept like a baby.”

At Marsh House, Simon has meetings with support workers to talk about how he’s doing, which he says has helped with his mental health.

“The support staff help you in any way that you need, which is really good because you don’t have that every where else, even in standard life,” he said.

“I feel normal - I haven’t for a while. I feel like myself again.”

Simon works as a photographer but says it’s not a job that brings in a weekly wage. However, after speaking to support staff, Simon has been inspired to look into becoming a support worker himself and is pursuing a course to help him get a job in the area.

“My struggle has made me realise what I want to go on and do,” he said.

Simon now feels at a point where he knows what he wants to do it life. “I’m slowly getting there - it’s nice,” he said.

The project has been developed in partnership with MTCBC, the Welsh Government, Merthyr Valleys Homes, and Pobl housing association.

It will become a homelessness assessment and triage centre with short, sharp interventions for those requiring temporary accommodation in a crisis. The building combines living space and support services.

Lorraine Griffiths is an Assistant Director with Pobl.

“This particularly is close to my heart because I’m from Merthyr - this is my home,“ she said.

“It’s been vital - to live in a hotel as long as these individuals have is soul-destroying. Somewhere like this is somewhere where they can start to feel back to normal, somewhere they can call home, somewhere they can cook, do their washing, without living in one room,” she added.

Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Local Government, and Planning, Julie James, also paid a visit to Marsh House.

"The longer somebody is homeless, the more cost to the system there is but the much more human cost there is too. For both reasons, this is an excellent example of where we want to go and, yes, we're looking to build more of these across Wales," she said.

Commenting, Mark Isherwood MS, Shadow Housing Minister, said:

“Whilst it is the right thing to find emergency accommodation for people who desperately need it, more needs to be done to treat the cause of homelessness in Wales, not just the symptoms.

The causes of homelessness are usually complex and short sharp interventions without person-centred support risk trapping people in a “revolving door” cycle.

“Labour's record on homelessness in Wales is shocking and unless they make drastic wholesale changes, this problem will only get worse.”

A spokesperson for Plaid Cymru said: "Plaid Cymru supports efforts to prevent, reduce, and ultimately end homelessness in Wales.

"We recognise that access to secure housing and accommodation plays an important role in that goal.

"That's why we have proposed a Right to Adequate Housing Act in Wales, which would include powers to introduce rent controls and other market interventions to make housing more affordable and help ensure each person in Wales has access to secure accommodation."

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