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| 'This is their bedroom': counting rough sleepers in England's homeless hotspots | 'This is their bedroom': counting rough sleepers in England's homeless hotspots |
| (25 days later) | |
| Once a year, volunteers take to the streets to try to capture the scale of a problem that everyone knows is getting worse | |
| Amelia Gentleman and | |
| Patrick Butler | |
| Fri 22 Dec 2017 06.00 GMT | |
| Last modified on Fri 22 Dec 2017 10.34 GMT | |
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| As rough sleeping rises nationally, the exact scale of the crisis remains hard to capture. The official data shows that in England, rough sleeping has risen for six years in a row. The latest figures estimated that 4,134 people bedded down outside in 2016, up 16% on the previous year. Though London remains the centre of rough sleeping, accounting for 23% of the national total (and in Westminster, with 260 rough sleepers, the highest number of cases), the rate is increasing much faster outside the capital, in places such as Brighton, Manchester and Birmingham. | As rough sleeping rises nationally, the exact scale of the crisis remains hard to capture. The official data shows that in England, rough sleeping has risen for six years in a row. The latest figures estimated that 4,134 people bedded down outside in 2016, up 16% on the previous year. Though London remains the centre of rough sleeping, accounting for 23% of the national total (and in Westminster, with 260 rough sleepers, the highest number of cases), the rate is increasing much faster outside the capital, in places such as Brighton, Manchester and Birmingham. |
| Each winter across the country, councils send teams of volunteers to conduct night-time counts of all the rough sleepers in the borough to assess how acute the problem is. Recent counts in the homelessness hotspots of Cambridge and Hackney, east London, reveal how the problem is evolving. | Each winter across the country, councils send teams of volunteers to conduct night-time counts of all the rough sleepers in the borough to assess how acute the problem is. Recent counts in the homelessness hotspots of Cambridge and Hackney, east London, reveal how the problem is evolving. |
| “This is their bedroom you are entering. Be respectful of that,” warned the organiser of the Cambridge count, before teams set out to count rough sleepers in the historic centre in the early hours of a Friday. For bedroom, read shop doorway, church graveyard, or multistorey car park – anywhere in the cold night air where a street sleeper might hope to find a yard or two of dry shelter and, if they are lucky, a degree of privacy. | “This is their bedroom you are entering. Be respectful of that,” warned the organiser of the Cambridge count, before teams set out to count rough sleepers in the historic centre in the early hours of a Friday. For bedroom, read shop doorway, church graveyard, or multistorey car park – anywhere in the cold night air where a street sleeper might hope to find a yard or two of dry shelter and, if they are lucky, a degree of privacy. |
| At 3am, as the last of the evening’s city-centre revellers are going home, the teams set out. This is the time when rough sleepers consider it safe enough and sufficiently quiet to bed down. Dotted along a line of shops on a main shopping street were several people in brightly coloured sleeping bags in doorways, surrounded by the paraphernalia of street life: plastic bags stuffed with belongings, cardboard under sheets to insulate them from the cold, the odd half-empty wine bottle. | At 3am, as the last of the evening’s city-centre revellers are going home, the teams set out. This is the time when rough sleepers consider it safe enough and sufficiently quiet to bed down. Dotted along a line of shops on a main shopping street were several people in brightly coloured sleeping bags in doorways, surrounded by the paraphernalia of street life: plastic bags stuffed with belongings, cardboard under sheets to insulate them from the cold, the odd half-empty wine bottle. |
| Rough sleeping is growing in Cambridge. After five years when the official total fluctuated between nine and 20, last year the city counted a record 40 rough sleepers. | Rough sleeping is growing in Cambridge. After five years when the official total fluctuated between nine and 20, last year the city counted a record 40 rough sleepers. |
| There are strict definitions of what constitutes a rough sleeper for the purposes of the count: people must be sleeping, about to bed down or bedded down on the street, in doorways, parks, tents, bus shelters, cars, barns, sheds and other places not designed for habitation. Homeless people who are resident in hostels or shelters on the night in question are not counted. The count is not a precise science: bad weather can depress the figures; counters can miss rough sleepers if they are well hidden; regular sleepers may by chance spend the night elsewhere. Good housing support services, too, can have a positive effect in reducing the numbers. | There are strict definitions of what constitutes a rough sleeper for the purposes of the count: people must be sleeping, about to bed down or bedded down on the street, in doorways, parks, tents, bus shelters, cars, barns, sheds and other places not designed for habitation. Homeless people who are resident in hostels or shelters on the night in question are not counted. The count is not a precise science: bad weather can depress the figures; counters can miss rough sleepers if they are well hidden; regular sleepers may by chance spend the night elsewhere. Good housing support services, too, can have a positive effect in reducing the numbers. |
| But local professionals are clear: the trend, in Cambridge as in England as a whole, is upward. “We have seen a gradual increase in rough sleepers in Cambridge over the last three to four years, most notably in the last two years,” said Vicky Knighton, team leader of the Cambridge Street and Mental Health Outreach Team. | But local professionals are clear: the trend, in Cambridge as in England as a whole, is upward. “We have seen a gradual increase in rough sleepers in Cambridge over the last three to four years, most notably in the last two years,” said Vicky Knighton, team leader of the Cambridge Street and Mental Health Outreach Team. |
| As the main city within a large rural area, and one with good homelessness provision such as hostels, Cambridge has always acted as a magnet for rough sleepers. Relationship breakdown and substance abuse remain important triggers of homelessness. But increasingly other factors have come into play, not least poverty: the lack of affordable housing, high rents and unstable tenancies, housing benefit cuts, and precarious incomes caused by the rise of zero-hours working. | As the main city within a large rural area, and one with good homelessness provision such as hostels, Cambridge has always acted as a magnet for rough sleepers. Relationship breakdown and substance abuse remain important triggers of homelessness. But increasingly other factors have come into play, not least poverty: the lack of affordable housing, high rents and unstable tenancies, housing benefit cuts, and precarious incomes caused by the rise of zero-hours working. |
| Exactly how bad the problem has got is a matter for debate. Between October and the end of November each year, every English local authority is required to submit snapshot estimates of the number of people sleeping out on a specified night. Just 15% of councils carry out formal street counts, the rest preferring paper calculations based on estimates by local professionals – homelessness outreach workers, police, park keepers, hostel workers and so on. | Exactly how bad the problem has got is a matter for debate. Between October and the end of November each year, every English local authority is required to submit snapshot estimates of the number of people sleeping out on a specified night. Just 15% of councils carry out formal street counts, the rest preferring paper calculations based on estimates by local professionals – homelessness outreach workers, police, park keepers, hostel workers and so on. |
| Other than as a rough index of general trends – and these show a rise of 132% in rough sleeping in England since 2010 – there appears little confidence that the official national rough sleeping statistics are accurate. Two years ago, the UK Statistics Authority concluded they were of low quality, untrustworthy and vulnerable to political manipulation, and threatened to remove their official status. The government has promised to overhaul them. | Other than as a rough index of general trends – and these show a rise of 132% in rough sleeping in England since 2010 – there appears little confidence that the official national rough sleeping statistics are accurate. Two years ago, the UK Statistics Authority concluded they were of low quality, untrustworthy and vulnerable to political manipulation, and threatened to remove their official status. The government has promised to overhaul them. |
| Many in the homelessness sector consider the national numbers a big underestimate. A separate survey, the Chain database, which measures numbers of individual rough sleepers seen by outreach workers in London over the course of a year, reported more than 8,100 rough sleepers in the capital in 2016-17. A survey carried out this year for the Crisis charity reported a similar number. This did not include 8,000 homeless people who had slept in cars, tents, or on buses over the course of the year, 39,000 who bedded down in hostels, refuges and winter shelters, or an estimated 60,000 sofa-surfers. Without drastic policy intervention, says Crisis, rough sleeping will continue to soar, to 10,000 in 2021, and 38,000 by 2041. | Many in the homelessness sector consider the national numbers a big underestimate. A separate survey, the Chain database, which measures numbers of individual rough sleepers seen by outreach workers in London over the course of a year, reported more than 8,100 rough sleepers in the capital in 2016-17. A survey carried out this year for the Crisis charity reported a similar number. This did not include 8,000 homeless people who had slept in cars, tents, or on buses over the course of the year, 39,000 who bedded down in hostels, refuges and winter shelters, or an estimated 60,000 sofa-surfers. Without drastic policy intervention, says Crisis, rough sleeping will continue to soar, to 10,000 in 2021, and 38,000 by 2041. |
| More than 50 volunteers took part in a count in Hackney, setting off at midnight to trawl the streets. Everyone working in homelessness here is aware that the numbers have risen sharply; residents in this stretch of east London can no longer ignore the increasingly routine sight of people asleep on park benches, in tents by the canal, and on piles of flattened cardboard in shop doorways. | More than 50 volunteers took part in a count in Hackney, setting off at midnight to trawl the streets. Everyone working in homelessness here is aware that the numbers have risen sharply; residents in this stretch of east London can no longer ignore the increasingly routine sight of people asleep on park benches, in tents by the canal, and on piles of flattened cardboard in shop doorways. |
| The borough was divided for the purposes of the count into nine sections, and each group of counters was given torches, and information packs with greetings and a short explanation of what the count was for in more than 40 languages (reflecting the diverse makeup of the homeless population). | The borough was divided for the purposes of the count into nine sections, and each group of counters was given torches, and information packs with greetings and a short explanation of what the count was for in more than 40 languages (reflecting the diverse makeup of the homeless population). |
| The council is not allowed to reveal the precise number of rough sleepers found, because the figures have to be collated nationwide and will be published next spring, but it was clear that the numbers had risen since last year. The detailed information gathered on the night will be used to help officials target services to better manage the growing problem. | The council is not allowed to reveal the precise number of rough sleepers found, because the figures have to be collated nationwide and will be published next spring, but it was clear that the numbers had risen since last year. The detailed information gathered on the night will be used to help officials target services to better manage the growing problem. |
| There are two distinct groups of rough sleepers in the borough – local residents whose complicated lives, and often addictions, have made them homeless, and migrants who are ineligible for support with housing, who have found London’s rents unaffordable. | There are two distinct groups of rough sleepers in the borough – local residents whose complicated lives, and often addictions, have made them homeless, and migrants who are ineligible for support with housing, who have found London’s rents unaffordable. |
| Some of them, like the 52-year-old Lithuanian decorator who was sleeping in the doorway of a pub at 2.30am, are working, but unable to save enough money for a deposit. He flashed open his wallet with a thick collection of £20 notes, to show he was being paid, but not enough to be able to house himself. | Some of them, like the 52-year-old Lithuanian decorator who was sleeping in the doorway of a pub at 2.30am, are working, but unable to save enough money for a deposit. He flashed open his wallet with a thick collection of £20 notes, to show he was being paid, but not enough to be able to house himself. |
| Many people were tipped into street sleeping because of the high costs of living in London, and particularly in Hackney, which has gone from being one London’s cheapest areas to one of its most expensive in the space of a decade. It is no longer possible to find properties to rent here (as in most of central and much of outer London) that will be covered by housing benefit allowances. | Many people were tipped into street sleeping because of the high costs of living in London, and particularly in Hackney, which has gone from being one London’s cheapest areas to one of its most expensive in the space of a decade. It is no longer possible to find properties to rent here (as in most of central and much of outer London) that will be covered by housing benefit allowances. |
| Hackney council’s homelessness team manager, Prakash Pandit, said: “They may be working, but the income they are receiving is not enough to pay the rent. Living in London is not easy. The level of debt that people have to take on just to get by is quite harrowing.” | Hackney council’s homelessness team manager, Prakash Pandit, said: “They may be working, but the income they are receiving is not enough to pay the rent. Living in London is not easy. The level of debt that people have to take on just to get by is quite harrowing.” |
| Council staff on the count were using the opportunity to try to get rough sleepers (most of whom they know by name) to visit Hackney’s drop-in service for homeless people, but some people were not willing to engage. There was particular concern for Denis, an alcoholic, sleeping uncomfortably on three boulders (possibly originally used to stop people parking somewhere) rolled into a doorway in a side street. The rocks were lumpy, but they lifted his sleeping bag off the pavement and the damp. He had told staff that he had made a decision to die on the streets. Recently another rough sleeper had broken his nose and stolen his supply of the painkiller tramadol. | Council staff on the count were using the opportunity to try to get rough sleepers (most of whom they know by name) to visit Hackney’s drop-in service for homeless people, but some people were not willing to engage. There was particular concern for Denis, an alcoholic, sleeping uncomfortably on three boulders (possibly originally used to stop people parking somewhere) rolled into a doorway in a side street. The rocks were lumpy, but they lifted his sleeping bag off the pavement and the damp. He had told staff that he had made a decision to die on the streets. Recently another rough sleeper had broken his nose and stolen his supply of the painkiller tramadol. |
| A man asleep on a park bench in Shacklewell Green said from beneath a greying, coverless white duvet that the council had tried to help him without success. “I’ve seen everybody. I am unplaceable. Unplaceable. There’s nothing you can do,” he said. The counters wanted to take a name and a mobile number, but he was unwilling to talk and annoyed by the question. “Where am I going to charge a phone?” | A man asleep on a park bench in Shacklewell Green said from beneath a greying, coverless white duvet that the council had tried to help him without success. “I’ve seen everybody. I am unplaceable. Unplaceable. There’s nothing you can do,” he said. The counters wanted to take a name and a mobile number, but he was unwilling to talk and annoyed by the question. “Where am I going to charge a phone?” |
| Bus drivers at the end of their shift pointed out a pile of steel crowd barriers, leaning against some public toilets, and the counting team persuaded the man sleeping behind them, an elderly man from Nigeria, to come out. “I applied some time ago to replace Ban Ki-moon,” he told them, wearing a pair of ill-fitting shoes given to him by one of the bus drivers. | Bus drivers at the end of their shift pointed out a pile of steel crowd barriers, leaning against some public toilets, and the counting team persuaded the man sleeping behind them, an elderly man from Nigeria, to come out. “I applied some time ago to replace Ban Ki-moon,” he told them, wearing a pair of ill-fitting shoes given to him by one of the bus drivers. |
| “No one should be on the street,” he said. “You should not have to sleep out in the cold. Theresa May should know this.” | “No one should be on the street,” he said. “You should not have to sleep out in the cold. Theresa May should know this.” |
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