Rough sleeping advisors axed

The eight advisors, who helped councils prevent homelessness and develop plans to cut rough sleeping, will go between the end of August and September.

The Communities and Local Government department said the specialists had been seconded from other employers for the past two years. A spokesperson said that this period is now coming to an end and they will return to their old workplaces. They will not be replaced.

Martin Cheeseman, director of housing and community care at Brent Council, said: ‘It is disappointing because a lot of the specialist advisors did a very good job. They could bring outside expertise into CLG.’

The news emerged as the official estimate of the number of rough sleepers almost trebled, following changes to the way the figures are complied.

The changes, promised by Grant Shapps ahead of the general election, saw the number of rough sleepers rise from 464 in 2009 to 1,247 in 2010. The government aims to end rough sleeping in England by 2012.

The steep rise occurred because previously only councils which thought there were more than 10 rough sleepers in their area had to carry out a street count. For the first time the latest set of figures also included estimates of rough sleeper numbers from councils which did not do a count. The estimates added 807 rough sleepers to the total, though the street count figure dropped by 24 to 440 between 2009 and 2010.

Arun Council in Sussex had the highest estimate of rough sleepers at 25, followed by Chichester and Gloucester with 15 each.

Westminster had the highest number of rough sleepers recorded through a street count at 147, an increase of 37 on 2009, followed by City of London with 29, down from 38 the previous year, and Peterborough with 26, up from six in 2009.

The new figures were published as the government launched a consultation on changes to the way rough sleepers are counted.

Critics have said the method excludes rough sleepers who have not yet bedded down or sleep in areas that are not part of the count.

Ahead of the consultation launch, Mr Shapps said the figures showed rough sleeping is at an 11-year low but said he was ‘sceptical that these figures reflect the situation on the streets’.

The consultation says the counts should record people who are about to bed down as well as those who have settled for the night, and that counts should start at 2am as rough sleepers in cities may not have bedded down at the current start time of midnight. In addition, the CLG will no longer provide officials to oversee the counts. This job will be done by volunteers from Homeless Link, the umbrella body for homelessness organisations, and faith groups. The consultation closes on 3 September.

Jenny Edwards, chief executive of Homeless Link, said counts did not need to be accurate ‘down to the last person’ but ‘give a good impression of whether there is a problem and people that need to be helped off the street’.

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