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Number of rough sleepers in Wales rises 17%
The number of people sleeping rough in Wales has risen 17% in the past year, according to the latest statistics.
Welsh local authorities estimated that 405 people were sleeping rough across Wales over two weeks between 14 and 27 October 2019, 58 more compared with the same exercise in October 2018.
Although there are a range of factors that can impact numbers of rough sleepers – including location, timing and weather – the snapshot helps councils understand how many people may be on the streets on any given night.
Another one-night count found that there were 176 individuals observed sleeping rough across Wales between 10pm on 7 November and 5am on 8 November 2019. This was an increase of 11% on the previous year.
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An emergency bed space survey carried out at the same time found that there were 210 emergency bed spaces across Wales, an increase of 14% on the previous year.
Despite this increase, just 8% were unoccupied and available for use on the night of the count – fewer than in the previous two years, when it was 18%.
Julie James, minister for housing and local government in Wales, said: “As a government committed to the goal of ending homelessness, we are of course disappointed that the numbers reported in the 2019 count have increased.
“We are not, however, surprised by the increase. It reflects the reality of what we see on our streets, the complexity of the issues and the discussions we have with stakeholders.”
She blamed the UK government’s austerity policies and the impact of welfare reform for the increase in rough sleeping, adding that the Welsh government had increased investment and introduced legislation to try to help.
“We need to shift our focus to earlier intervention and prevention, taking a public service-wide response, whilst also continuing to support people off the streets into long-term, suitable accommodation,” she said.
Matt Dicks, director of the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru, said rough sleeping represents “the most harrowing challenge to the housing sector in Wales”.
He added: “Within the count released today it is encouraging to see local authorities increasing the amount of bed spaces available to provide people with an alternative to sleeping rough. Whilst the snapshot shows an increase in the amount of people sleeping rough we know that one person sleeping rough is one too many.”
