‘National audit needed’ on homelessness levels
A NATIONAL audit should be carried out to establish the number of people sleeping rough on Scotland’s streets, organisations dealing with homelessness have insisted.
The group Homeless Action Scotland, which includes councils, housing associations and the third sector, said the last nationwide count of rough sleepers was carried out in 2003.
It is now demanding a fresh assessment of the problem be completed, with chief executive Gavin Yates stating: “It is essential that we get a real idea of the scale of the issue.”
In addition it wants ministers to focus efforts on eradicating rough sleeping, saying there should be an ambition to end this by the end of 2022.
Currently figures on rough sleeping are an estimate, based on the information people give to councils when they declare themselves homeless.
But a report from Homeless Action Scotland raises concerns that the statistics do not include all of those who sleep rough, as those who do not seek help from local authorities are not included.
According to the available figures, the number of people sleep- ing rough increased in 2016-17, with 1,500 people saying they had resorted to this the night before seeking help from the council, up from 1,361 the previous year.
At the same time the number who said they had slept rough at some point in the last three months increased from 2,427 to 2,621.
Mr Yates said: “For too long the narrative was that rough sleeping and homelessness was diminishing, when organisations on the ground have been telling us the opposite.
“The First Minister made it clear in her Programme for Government that she saw that the numbers were going the wrong way. We welcome this but now call to go forward and get an accurate count of rough sleepers in Scotland based upon a solid methodology.
“Without knowing where we are, it is difficult to assess how long a journey we are embarking upon.”
He added: “The aim of ending rough sleeping is shared by everyone in Scotland but simply moving people from the streets to night shelters or B&B’s or other unsuitable temporary accommodation is not going to be a sufficient response to this problem for a modern nation like ours.”