Introduction 

Although enforceable rights to settled housing for homeless people are unusual outside of the UK, across the developed world there is a growing interest in developing and exploring ways of addressing homelessness (Shinn et al., 2001; Crane et al., 2006; Busch- Geertsema and Fitzpatrick, 2008; Pawson and Davidson, 2008; Culhane et al., 2011; Mackie, 2015). To date however, there is little evidence of how preventative policies may contribute to this goal and operate in practice. Accordingly, the overarching aim of this themed section is to begin to fill this gap in evidence.

The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 introduced major changes to the way homelessness is addressed in Wales, a constituent country of the UK with some devolved power. From April 2015 changes associated with Part 2 of the Act aimed at extending services to prevent homelessness and providing assistance to all eligible applicants (non-eligibility being a function of immigration status). Pursuant to this, the authors have completed two large-scale studies which were commissioned and funded by the Welsh Government. The UniversityofSalford(partneredbyGlyndwˆrUniversity,Wrexham)undertookamixed- methods longitudinal post-implementation evaluation of the processes and impacts of theAct(study1),whileGlyndwˆrUniversity,Wrexham(partneredbyTheUniversityof Salford) conducted a parallel study specifically focusing on the experiences of adults leaving the secure estate (prison leavers) (study 2). Our studies provide robust longitudinal evaluation evidence on the impacts and processes of the legislation.