Official count shows rough sleeping down by 9% in England
February 10, 2020
The Headline Figures
Official figures released today by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show the number of rough sleepers counted on a single night in Autumn 2019 stands at 4,266. Compared to the figure from a year ago, which stood at 4,677, this figure represents a 9% decrease. That is 411 fewer people sleeping rough on a single night than at the same point in 2018.
2019’s figures are still a 141% increase on 2010. The figures in full can be found here.
Housing Justice Director for England, Jacob Quagliozzi said:
“While these numbers don’t show the whole picture, a reduction in the number of people sleeping rough on a given night is welcome and is the result of a huge amount of work by a range of different agencies and groups.
However, the number of people sleeping on our streets remains stubbornly and unacceptably high: this is the fourth year in a row that more than four thousand people have been recorded sleeping out on a single night and marks a decade of unacceptable levels of rough sleeping.
What is certain is that these numbers would have been considerably higher were it not for the extraordinary contribution made by the Winter Night Shelter Network in England; a network of grassroots projects run by churches and community groups, the majority staffed by volunteers.
According to Housing Justice’s analysis, without the influence of the Winter Night Shelter Network, the street count would be 40% higher.
Despite all the extraordinary work going on across the country, there is still much to do to end rough sleeping; we need to address the root causes of our dysfunctional housing market and the vast reservoir of hidden homelessness.
There should be no complacency in light of these figures, ending rough sleeping requires a coalition of different tiers of government, charities and grassroots groups and the public working together with the resources to make a lasting difference to the lives of those who find themselves rough sleeping and that should be the focus over the coming months and years.”
The Bigger Picture
Housing Justice, the housing and homelessness charity that provides and supports voluntary run winter night shelters across England and Wales, estimates the street count would be around 40% higher without winter night shelters, which combined provide about 2,000 beds every night of the winter. It is important to note that anyone in a night shelter is not included in the government’s snapshot count.
Housing Justice directly provides night shelters and supports grassroots groups to do the same. It also runs a Hosting Project for destitute asylum seekers and a Housing Project supporting churches to develop affordable housing on their land. There are now 145 projects in the Housing Justice Winter Night Shelter Network in England and Wales providing more than 2,000 emergency beds and welcoming approximately 5,000 guests each winter, making the network one of the largest providers of emergency accommodation in the country.
In London, Housing Justice receives funding from the Mayor of London to support a network of 45 winter night shelters. Since 2018 Housing Justice has provided more than £500,000 of direct funding to the network in London, supported 6 new projects to start up and directly helped more than 500 individuals to leave rough sleeping behind. London reported its first fall in rough sleeping in the snapshot count data this year with a drop of 11%.
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