Housing

Rough Sleeping Statistics

Rough Sleeping Estimates in England

The most visible and extreme form of homelessness is that of people sleeping on the streets. In 1998 Tony Blair set a target that by 2002 the numbers of rough sleepers should be reduced by at least two thirds from the existing level of 1,850. The target was met ahead of time in 2001 and to date is being sustained with a level of just under 500 in 2007. Our £90m Hostels Capital Improvement Programme will help to achieve further reductions in rough sleeping over the next few years.

Each September Communities and Local Government publishes a national rough sleeping estimate to establish the current position against the 1998 baseline. As with the baseline figure the annual estimate is based on a combination of recent street counts and estimates.

Rough sleeping counts are conducted by local authorities in partnership with local homeless agencies. Street counts provide a useful snap shot of the number of people sleeping rough in a given geographical area on a single night. Single night counts may not capture the number of people who may have experience of sleeping rough over the course of a year but they enable progress to be measured over time and across regions.

We estimate that as at June 2007 there were 498 people sleeping rough in England on any single night. This figure is an update of the rough sleeping estimate published annually since June 1998. A Written Parliamentary Answer on 19 May 1999 (House of Commons, Official Report, Column 355) (external link) set out the methodology for calculating the figures.

A full breakdown of the June 2007 figure is provided in the referenced table. This shows the results of recent street counts for every area in which such a count has taken place since 1 January 2006. Where no recent counts have taken place local authorities must submit an estimate. Any estimates of more than ten rough sleepers provided by local authorities in their 2007 Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) returns to Communities and Local Government should be validated by a count. For all other areas, zero estimates are assumed on the basis of local authorities' statistical returns.

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