Housing

Rough Sleeping

Group photograph of the allotment gardening team at The Booth Centre, Manchester Cathedral, Manchester.

On 18 November 2008 the new rough sleeping strategy - No One Left Out - Communities ending rough sleeping, a fifteen point action plan that sets out our vision to work with partners to end rough sleeping by 2012, was launched. Developed with leading rough sleeping charities it will use action, advice and assistance across England to prevent the flow of people onto the streets, as well as to support those already there, to get off the streets into stability. 

On 27 November 2009 Communities and Local Government released a one year progress report which shows just how much has already been achieved.

Keep up to date with Communities and Local Government by following us on Twitter (external link).

Rough sleeper counts

The local counts are a useful measure of tracking trends in rough sleeping over time. The headline figure is the total of the counts undertaken during the year.

In areas that do not have a known or suspected rough sleeping problem, we do not ask local authorities to conduct a count and we no longer ask local authorities that do not count to provide an annual estimate in their annual housing statistics return.  

A new approach called Street Needs Audit (SNA) is also being developed to supplement the approach currently taken in the counts. The Street Needs Audit will gather more information about people found in the counts. As well as information to identify individuals, counters will record whether there is an active action plan in place for the person and the lead agency that is taking responsibility.

Before undertaking a count of rough sleepers, all local authorities must contact Claire Vaughan at Communities and Local Government, at least one month before the count (see Further Information).

In 2007 Communities and Local Government published Guidance on Evaluating the Extent of Rough Sleeping - to help local authorities, in partnership with other local agencies, to carry out a count of people sleeping rough in their area.  

Rough sleeping statistics

Street counts provide a useful snapshot of the number of people sleeping rough in a given geographical area on a single night. A full breakdown of the June 2009 figure is provided in a spreadsheet in the Statistical Release - Rough Sleeping England - Total Street Count 2009.

This shows the results of the street counts, taken between January 2008 and May 2009.

Further information

For further enquiries relating to rough sleeping or carrying out street counts, please contact:

Claire Vaughan
email: claire.vaughan@communities.gsi.gov.uk  

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