Shapps promises credible rough sleeper counts
The government has promised to overhaul rough sleeping counts, and has set up a group of eight minister charged with preventing homelessness.
The homelessness working group met for the first time today to see how their policies can help step up action to help the homeless.
On the same day, housing minister Grant Shapps has announced plans to overhaul the way rough sleepers are counted.
This year’s rough sleeping figures will be published soon, the housing minister said, and any changes to the counts will come into effect next year.
Mr Shapps said: ‘Councils and charities are doing a great job in helping people off the streets, but the current counting system makes a mockery of the scale of the problem they face.
‘This coalition government will not stick our heads in the sand and ignore the true picture of the number of those facing life on the streets.
‘That’s why I am announcing today that we will overhaul the rough sleeping count from 2011 so that it is a credible measure and reflects the reality of the situation.’
The Communities and Local Government department released figures saying just 76 of the 354 councils contributed to the last national count because currently local authorities only have to conduct a count if there is a ‘significant problem’.
Mr Shapps suggested council estimates were often zero and ‘masked the true number of rough sleepers nationwide’.
He added: ‘For the first time, ministers from across eight government departments are coming together to ensure that the needs of the homeless are being met, not just in terms of housing, but in employment, training, rehabilitation and healthcare.’
Who’s in the homelessness working group?
- Grant Shapps MP (Con) - Department for Communities and Local Government (housing and homelessness) (Chair)
- Andrew Robathan MP (Con) - Ministry of Defence (welfare of veterans)
- John Hayes MP (Con) - Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (adult skills)
- Paul Burstow MP (LD) - Department of Health (health and care services)
- Lord David Freud (Con) - Department for Work and Pensions (housing benefit)
- Crispin Blunt MP (Con) - Ministry of Justice (criminal justice)
- James Brokenshire (Con) - Home Office (crime prevention)
- Tim Loughton MP (Con) - Department for Education (children and youth services)
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Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | 16/06/2010 11:22 pm
When are you lot going to get web savvy?
Shapps is spraying this stuff around and more on his Twitter account. He's bypassing the DCLG press office.
New politics. Same as the old politics but with a twist.
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Harry Lime | 17/06/2010 9:04 am
Fair play to Grant on this, the current system is an absolute mockery - people being advised where they can look, people sleeping in car parks not being counted as "rough sleepers" and other such nonsense. Local Authorities were often being awarded more cash if they had low counts as this would show they were "effective" in tackling rough sleeping. Hopefully this means resources will be targetted more effectively. Although whether tories will allocate meaningful resources to such a group remains to be seen.....
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