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End to rough sleepers estimate

Published 19 November 2008

The commitment to end street homelessness in England “for good” could mark a landmark. But with virtually no new resources and few new ideas, just how it will be achieved?

Doubts have arisen over a landmark commitment to end street homelessness by 2012, after it emerged that the government will no longer publish a national estimate of the number of people sleeping rough. Opposition MPs have criticised ministers for undermining their own policy.

Housing minister Margaret Beckett declared yesterday that “rough sleeping in 21st Century Britain is unacceptable” as she launched a new plan to solve the problem in time for the Olympics. The commitment to end street homelessness in England “for good” could mark a landmark in social policy. But with virtually no new resources and few new ideas, it’s hard to see how it will be achieved.

Labour’s attempt to tackle the most visible form of homelessness dates back to Tony Blair’s promise in 1998 to reduce rough sleeping “as close to zero as possible” and by at least two thirds. The fallback target was met in 2002 and ministers frequently refer to a “sustained reduction”, but the headline figure in the national rough sleeping estimate has remained at around 500 people “on any given night” for the last five years. Now, the government is seeking to distance itself from that controversial figure.

A spokesman for Communities and Local Government (CLG) told newstatesman.com that the department will still publish an annual total derived from local counts but declined to describe this as a national estimate. Beckett’s new strategy, “No one left out”, states that ministers will now make clear that the figure is “not an estimate of the number of people sleeping rough in the country”. Ministers have repeatedly cited this figure in recent media coverage.

Tory housing spokesman Grant Shapps expressed disappointment that ministers had not addressed his concerns over the figures, which are based on street counts by some – but not all – councils. He pointed out that the absence of an accurate annual measure of street homelessness will make it impossible to measure progress towards the 2012 target. He added: “The problems with the way the number of rough sleepers is calculated need to be addressed before solutions can be fully effective.”

Liberal Democrat Sarah Teather has also criticised the absence of a credible yardstick. She told newstatesman.com: “The new target is meaningless unless it is based on reliable information.”

In spite of media reports of £200 million to support the plan, yesterday’s announcement includes virtually no new money beyond a further £2.5m for a scheme to support new social enterprise start-ups.

Many of the headline measures announced yesterday have little substance when set out in the detailed action plan. Where CLG’s announcement promised to increase the options available to single homeless people through “help with deposits”, the action plan revealed that the government will only be “encouraging local authorities” to expand access to rent deposit schemes, with no promise of additional funding.

CLG was unable to substantiate a promise to expand “street rescue” teams run by charities. Homelessness charity Thamesreach, whose street rescue service covers 21 London boroughs and was cited by CLG as a case study, has confirmed that its scheme is not due to expand.

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3 comments from readers

Mike Nicholas
20 November 2008 at 13:30

What an extraordinarily dyspeptic response to the government's renewed commitment to end rough sleeping in this country. To describe the strategy, which many charities working with the homeless have made a significant contribution to, as having few ideas is grossly misleading and insulting.

For example, the introduction of street needs audits offers a welcome extension of the traditional street count mechanism so that the teams working on the streets can get a much more comprehensive picture of who is out there and why. The proposed working hostels pilot will help us experiment with new ways of getting homeless people into work. Finally a private sector leasing initiative will open up more accommodation so that we can move people onwards and upwards from hostels.

The New Statesmen may well not wish to break the habit of a lifetime and file a positive article about tackling homelessness, but the reality on the ground, including from agencies working with rough sleepers right outside the New Statesmen offices in London, is that this strategy offers new ideas and new hope.

mrkfm
10 December 2008 at 15:45

The "official" street count figures are often quoted by people as a way of proving that the numbers of people on the streets are falling yet organisations such as The Simon Community and more recently Housing Justice have carried out their own street counts which consistently contradict these figures.

Working in a central London charity, I haven't seen a major fall in the numbers using our service - however, I have noticed over the years a far more assertive approach to dealing with homeless people which seems to include hotwashing the places where homeless people sleep and generally moving them on from tourist areas.

I have also found that it has becomes increasingly difficult for our service users to even get a homeless assessment which they are legally entitled to let alone any accommodation as local councils have more and more turned to gate keeping as they have no houses to place people in and are under pressure to reach targets.

I have attended conferences over the past few years where government workers and some charities have quoted government statistics which state that fewer people are presenting at local councils for housing and saying this is a good thing and proof that there are less homeless.

Both statistics are massively flawed and give a false impression as to what's happening and this needs to change as for many homeless people all that is happening is that they are being forced to sleep where they can't be seen which is more dangerous for them and stops them being able to be seen and helped by outreach teams.

tomhughes
20 July 2009 at 13:21

Mike Nicholas's comments need to be read in the light of today's report that the Rough Sleepers count is being massaged, to the extent - it is claimed - that some were found B & Bs for the night of the count!

Margaret Beckett's 'target' of solving the problem in time for the 2012 Olympics suggests that visitors' perceptions are more important that the meeting the needs of rough sleepers.

And, in any case, why should they wait three years?