Conservatives would overhaul rough sleeper counts
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A Conservative government would overhaul the way numbers of rough sleepers are counted, Grant Shapps has told Inside Housing.
In an interview at the Conservative Party conference on Monday, the shadow housing minister described the current system of recording as ‘ludicrous’ because it rounds down the numbers of rough sleepers in each council to zero if the total falls below 10.
‘The very first thing is we have to get to an honest count of homeless people. The latest figure is imaginary,’ Mr Shapps said. ‘Let’s have honest rough sleeping figures. We can do that straight away.’
The latest rough sleeping count shows numbers fell 4 per cent from 483 in January 2008 to 464 in May 2009, but the government has an aim of reducing this to 0 by 2012.
Mr Shapps also said reforming housing benefit would help get homeless people into accommodation, and this would be a priority for an incoming Tory government. He wants to switch back to the system where the money is paid directly to the landlords instead of the benefit recipient.
The chief executive of homelessness charity Crisis, Leslie Morphy, said that she wants to see more definite policy from the Tories.
‘We’re heard lots of nice words, lots on how they will do things differently from the current government, but I don’t think I’ve yet heard real policy development with the I’s dotted,’ she said.
As well as action on housing benefit, Ms Morphy said that she wanted more information on what would be expected of local authorities and on how government departments would work together to tackle homelessness.
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Readers' comments (7)
graham peters | 06/10/2009 5:11 pm
the two main parties have been trying to fulfill their policies and employing incompetants since the last war and they still are none the wiser or any closer to their goals. We need a radical change in our laws / and the way we live
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karen | 07/10/2009 7:08 am
So a reformed count is it? No actual tackling of homelessness but at least we'll count better... Im sure that will be comforting to the poor person who is sleeping in a doorway - "I might be sleeping in the street but at least they've counted me correctly"...
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B.S. Townroe | 07/10/2009 8:01 am
I suppose they can count the homeless whilst using the water cannon on them. You see, that's Tory efficiency in action.....
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Peter | 07/10/2009 10:30 am
How does counting 1 to 10 = 0?
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Jester | 07/10/2009 11:03 am
People working in the field have known Rough Sleepers Counts to be a farce for years!!! Perhaps the most worrying aspect is that pressure to get rough sleepers off the streets has led to people who have abused and assaulted hostel staff to be let back into the same hostels after a few nights out....this is unacceptable!!
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karen | 08/10/2009 7:32 am
peter - apparently its a politicians way of counting... think of all the kids who with Maths in school - perfect excuse "Oh you are using the traditional method for counting! Im using the new way to count where 9 + 5 does in fact = 0."
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Xana | 29/10/2009 6:46 pm
Yet another empty promise from the Tories - official counts no longer round down numbers. Don't take my word for it, check the official figures at http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/roughsleeping2009
His knowledge is as shallow as his policies...
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