Teenagers forced from home is a problem in Pembrokeshire

The council said youngsters being forced out was a growing problem.

For the first time it will employ a mediator to resolve disputes or at least ensure teenagers have suitable accommodation before they leave home.

A Welsh housing charity has welcomed the move but said youngsters should not be forced to stay against their wishes.

It may a clash in lifestyle as they might want to stay out all partying all night Lyn Hambidge

Pembrokeshire Council is one of 19 local authorities to share almost �1m Welsh Assembly Government funding to cut the number of people in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation.

Of the 1,289 people who presented themselves as homeless in the county to the year ending in April, almost a third were either youngsters who had left the family home or short-term tenants kicked-out by private sector landlords.

The council will use the money to employ support workers to intervene in both sorts of disputes.

Lyn Hambidge of the social care and housing department said: "When we looked at our homeless figures there were pressure points.

"The first was 16 and 17-year-olds being requested to leave by their parents or family.

"The second was people with short-term tenants being asked to leave in the private sector.

"Where the dispute is between families then the mediator would act to try to get to the root of the problem where it has reached crisis point.

"It may a clash in lifestyle as they might want to stay out all partying all night.

"Where it is not possible to resolve it would be a matter of trying to get the family to keep them long enough so it would be a more planned."

She said a similar service would be available between tenants and private landlords.

Risk of abuse

Shelter Cymru said mediation services were an effective prevention to homelessness.

"Family relationship breakdown is a significant cause of young people presenting as homeless," said the charity's head of housing services JJ Costello.

"An intervention that assists families to settle their differences will often be in the young persons best interest and is very much welcomed."

But he said young people should never be encouraged to return to a family setting that poses a risk of abuse or against their wishes.

Mrs Hambidge said the mediator would work with the authority's social care and family teams to ensure that was never the case.