In theory, this scheme is in place to help people in social housing move to other areas to take up employment. In practice, certainly in Wales, it works entirely differently.

Consider this, someone from Penrhyndeudraeth gets a job in Leicester. Now what are the chances of finding someone in Leicester who wants to move to Penrhyndeudraeth? Slim, or non-existent. Unless of course it’s someone who just fancies a change of scenery, which means that they will not be working. Which gives us a clue as to who uses this scheme, certainly in rural areas of Wales.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my son lives in Machynlleth next door to a non-working couple with 7 kids who drive a Cadillac 4 x 4. This family arrived from England a few years ago via a Home Swap. There are others I know in the south Meirionnydd north east Powys area who came via the same route, very few of them work.

Home Swap in this area is simply a way of catering for a peripatetic, non-working population. They run up debts and otherwise outstay their welcome in one area, so they just move on.

HomeSwap might work between the major cities of England, but when it’s extended to rural Wales it becames just another route by which undesirables end up here.

To quote:

The HomeSwapper service is now available for CCG tenants. Please visit http://www.homeswapper.co.uk for more information and to register. This service allows our tenants to discover people across the UK that wants to exchange homes. Unfortunately, this website is currently only available in English, but we are working with them and can assure you that the service will also be available in Welsh by December.

That has to be another black mark against Carmarthenshire council, the Welsh Government and other agencies involved.

I am indebted. But “shoe-horned in”? My understanding is that the WHCSA had the place to themselves with acres of room to spare.