Homelessness down by a third – but city one of three worst hotspots
THE number of people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn fell by more than a third in a year, figures show.
The areas with the highest numbers of people estimated to be sleeping rough were Bristol, Westminster and Manchester. There were 2,688 people estimated to be sleeping rough on any single night in England during October and November, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said.
This is the third consecutive annual fall, and a drop of 37% compared with 2019.
But it remains 52% higher than the number estimated in 2010, when the “snapshot” approach was first introduced.
Local authorities said the fall was due to the Government’s Everyone In scheme, where councils were instructed to rapidly rehouse thousands of rough sleepers at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Rough Sleeping Initiative which launched in 2018.
MHCLG said other factors should also be considered when comparing the annual snapshots – the weather, movement across local authority boundaries, the date and time of the snapshot and availability of night shelters.
The snapshot coincided with a national lockdown throughout November and tier restrictions in October.
About 44% of people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn were in London and the South East.
These two regions showed the largest decrease in the estimated number sleeping rough compared with last year.
The North East had the lowest number of people estimated to be sleeping rough, and was the only region that showed a small increase compared with last year.
Similar to previous years, most rough sleepers were believed to be male, over 26 and from the UK.
The areas with the highest numbers of people estimated to be sleeping rough were Westminster, Manchester and Bristol.
Some 205 councils saw falls in their rough sleeper estimates from 2019, 78 councils saw rises, and 31 saw no change.
Areas which saw rises said these were largely due to the pandemic, with people losing their jobs, being unable to pay rent or accommodation, illegal evictions, relationship breakdowns, sofa surfers being asked to leave and reduced winter shelter provision.
Some councils said the increase could have been due to increased outreach services leading to a more accurate view of rough sleepers in their area.
Thangam Debbonaire, MP for Bristol West and Labour’s shadow housing secretary, said: “There is a real risk that gains made last year will be lost.
“We came into this crisis with twice as many rough sleepers as in 2010. Almost 1,000 people died while homeless in 2020. We cannot return to business as usual.”
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said no one should be sleeping rough during the pandemic, but “every week” its frontline staff were witnessing new cases of homeless people being refused help.
She said: “Whether someone is offered a safe bed for the night instead of a cold pavement should not be up for debate. The pandemic isn’t over and we must continue to keep people safe.
“The Government needs to ensure its hard work is not undone by giving councils explicit guidance to provide everyone with emergency accommodation and support.”
Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, said the significant reduction in the snapshot estimate was “something to celebrate”.
He added: “We cannot ignore the unacceptable fact that thousands of people are still forced to sleep on our streets. People with no recourse to public funds, and those newly arriving on the streets having lost jobs and homes during the pandemic, continue to be overlooked in the current homelessness response, to their huge detriment.
“Prevention will be key going forward, but the end of the eviction ban in March and the risk that the Universal Credit uplift will be removed, threaten this.”