#33 - Katie Dalton- How Wales made homelessness prevention a legal duty — and what a decade of results shows for Aotearoa

In this episode, we speak with Katie Dalton, Director of Cymorth Cymru — the charity representing homelessness and housing support services across Wales.With a career spanning student politics, mental health policy, and housing advocacy, Katie has been at the centre of Wales's homelessness prevention journey for over a decade — including direct involvement in both the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 and the recently passed Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Act 2026.In this conversation, Katie shares how Wales shifted its homelessness system from gatekeeping to genuine prevention, and what a decade of implementation has taught her about what legislation alone cannot achieve. We explore the new 2026 Act — extending the prevention window to six months, abolishing priority need and intentionality tests, and placing Ask and Act duties on health and criminal justice services. Katie also reflects on co-designing law with experts by experience, the Cardiff and Vale Health Inclusion Service as a model of cross-sector partnership, and what any country considering similar reform needs to get right.We'd like to thank Katie for taking the time to speak with us for this episode.More information on this episode can be found in the episode description. And don't forget to subscribe to the CHA Hub Podcast — wherever you get your podcasts from.The CHA Hub Podcast is sponsored by our Founding Partner, Westpac New Zealand.