Rough sleepers total ‘five times official figure’
THE real number of those sleeping rough is 24,000 – five times the official figure, homeless charity Crisis said yesterday.
They include 12,000 who are ‘ hidden’ and go uncounted because they sleep in cars, trains, buses, tents or in the countryside rather than bedding down on streets.
The Government-sponsored census of rough sleeping, last carried out in october 2017, found there were 4,751 in England, which has
the overwhelming majority in the UK. But Crisis said 12,300 people are sleeping on streets with the rest in woods or vehicles.
The charity added the new figures were produced by ‘triangulating a number of secondary data sources’. Jon Sparkes, of Crisis, said: ‘Christmas should be a time of joy, but for thousands of people sleeping rough, in tents or on public transport, it will be anything but that.
‘While most of the country will be celebrating and enjoying a family meal, those who are homeless will face a struggle just to stay safe and escape the cold.’
However, the Crisis figures were
attacked yesterday as ‘speculative’. Kathy Gyngell, of the Conservative Woman website, said: ‘It does no service to anyone to publish dramatised figures.’
The official count relies on estimates made by local authorities and charities, including Crisis, and is described by the leading charity umbrella group as ‘robust’.
Separately yesterday, Government figures revealed more than 120,000 children in England do not have a permanent home.
The number of households living in temporary accommodation has risen by five per cent in a year, to 82,310, including 123,630 children.
It was the first ever such set of figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The number of homeless children in temporary accommodation was 3,000 higher than 2017 and the highest in 11 years.
Greg Beales, of homeless charity Shelter, said: ‘This is now a national emergency. Every day we hear horror stories about homeless families faced with dirty, cold and even ratinfested hostels.
‘Whole families are forced to share one room and even beds, and children are too scared to leave their block to use communal bathrooms during the night.’
‘12,000 shelter in woods or vehicles’