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Rough sleeping soars 30% in a year
The number of rough sleepers in England has shot up by 30% in a year, latest government figures have revealed.
The figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) reveal 3,569 people were sleeping rough on any one night in autumn 2015 compared to 2,744 in autumn 2014.
It means the number of rough sleepers is nearly double what it was in 2010 when the Conservatives first came to power. The yearly increase is the highest since 2010.
The local authority with the highest number of rough sleepers was Westminster Council with 265. Bristol had the second highest number with 97 rough sleepers.
Westminster Council has been approached for comment.
Shadow housing minister John Healey accused Conservative ministers of “five years of failure on housing”.
He added: “The first step ministers must now take is to exempt homelessness accommodation and other specialist housing from the chancellor’s crude housing benefit cuts, which are set to close thousands of hostels and make the problem of rough sleeping even worse.”
Umbrella charity Homeless Link warned the future of many homelessness services was “uncertain” because of reduced local authority funding, substantial changes to the welfare system and lack of housing.
Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, said: “When the right local services are in place to help people off the streets as quickly as possible, we know it is possible to turn this situation around.”
The UK Statistics Authority stripped rough sleeping statistics of national statistics status in December. Its report said the figures were “potentially misleading” without the “broader context of increasing local authority prevention and relief activity”.
A spokesperson for the authority confirmed the statistics were still stripped of the official status.
Homelessness minister Marcus Jones said the government had increased central funding to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139m.
He added: “Many rough sleepers have complex needs that include mental health difficulties or addiction, and we are developing a £5m social impact bond that will help entrenched rough sleepers move off the streets.”
