The ‘shocking’ rise in the number of homeless people sleeping rough in Wales – Wales Online

The number of people sleeping on Wales' streets has gone up by 17% in a year.

Every year, councils are asked to carry out a count of people sleeping rough to feed into a national rough sleeper count.

This year's count was carried out over two weeks in October and nearly all areas saw a rise when compared to the year before.

The figures, published on Tuesday, February show a significant rise from 347 people sleeping rough over a two-week period in Wales last year to 405 people who slept on the streets this year - an increase of 58.

Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, chief executive of The Wallich, said: Everyone is disappointed and no-one is surprised, from decision makers to people on the ground, and this is unacceptable. We should be surprised; we should be shocked, and we should be outraged at the continual year on year increase in the number of people sleeping rough across Wales.

"This figure should be a rallying cry to all of us that we need to do better.We cannot allow year-on-year increases in homelessness to become normalised this is when we fail."

The numbers of rough sleepers over a two week period:

How that looks as a map:

A count on a single night is also carried out in every council area. In that, councils reported 176 people sleeping rough across Wales between 10pm on the November 7 and 5am on November 8, 2019 - also a rise on the previous year, this time of 11%.

As part of the report, councils are asked to count how many emergency bed spaces there are.

They reported 210 available and despite that number being up, the proportion of emergency bed spaces which were unoccupied and available on the night of the count was lower in 2019 (8%) than in 2018 and 2017 (both 18%)

The Welsh Government report says there continues to be "considerable variation" across Wales' 22 council areas.

In Caerphilly, the number of people sleeping rough rose from 28 to 42, and in Newport from 23 to 42.

There were reductions in five council areas: Anglesey, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Gwynedd and Wrexham.

There were no rough sleepers counted in Blaenau Gwent.

The highest estimate for rough sleepers over these two weeks continued to be seen in Cardiff (despite a decrease of eight) and Caerphilly and Newport being joint second highest.

Reasons provided for the increases reflected both on the ground changes as well as improved engagement resulting in better quality data whereas the decreases were credited to multi-agency work reducing levels of rough sleeping and difficulties in obtaining up to date or accurate information from agencies working on the ground.

Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, chief executive of The Wallich, said: The figure of 57 people seen sleeping rough in Cardiff on the one-night count is similar to our own figures but it is important to mention later that month we saw numbers as high as 76 people in a single morning in the city centre alone.

"One-night counts have their merits as a snapshot, but they can often hide the true extent of the issue. For example, we often see much higher numbers during the summer months when extra cold weather provision is not available. We are working with Welsh Government on a national database (the Street Homeless Information Network SHIN) which would give us accurate figures throughout the year.

"The government figures also show a huge increase in areas where there is less investment in outreach provision, such as Caerphilly and Conwy where the number of people sleeping rough has almost doubled between 2018 and 2019.The people sleeping rough in these areas are as valuable and worthy of help as those in our larger cities.

" Welsh Government has tasked the Homelessness Action Group to think afresh and do things differently, utilising the expertise available to achieve the change required. We are part of this group and whilst we have seen some tangible outcomes from our discussions, we need urgent action and for Welsh Government to rapidly implement the groups recommendations, including a serious financial commitment.

" There has been a real terms funding cut of 37m from the Supporting People budget between 2012-2018. Without additional investment in the Housing Support Grant in the next Welsh Government budget, there is a risk that homelessness could get much worse.

" We also need a commitment to systemic change to remove the barriers that are leaving people unable to get out of the cycle of homelessness such as the abolition of priority need, intentionality, local connection and the use of the Vagrancy Act.We need to re-introduce kindness as a force that binds us together in our fight against homelessness. There is no more time for bigotry and victim blaming in this emergency.

" A minimum of 405 people across Wales need our help, our compassion, and to be our priority right now. As individuals, decision makers, service providers, businesses and as a nation, we must not fail them."

Clarissa Corbisiero, Director of Policy and Deputy Chief Executive of Community Housing Cymru said: " Figures released by Welsh Government today have revealed that the number of people rough sleeping number in Wales has risen 17% in the last year. We know that more people than ever need support for increasingly complex, co-occurring problems and experiences of trauma, and the Housing Support Grant is essential in funding these services which help people to manage their tenancies and prevent homelessness.

"We share the Welsh Governments ambition to eradicate homelessness in Wales, and todays figures show there is still more to be done. Thats why we are calling on Welsh Government to increase funding for the Housing Support Grant so that we can deliver vital services at the scale needed to end homelessness and keep people in their homes."

Welsh Government minister Julie James said: "I acknowledge the numbers sleeping rough on our streets continues to be unacceptably high. However, the key experts we have engaged to work with us, to advise and help accelerate the work we have already commenced, demonstrates our continuing commitment to addressing this issue.

"I believe the strategic approach we are taking to preventing and ending homelessness is the right framework to take forward this work. The reports of the Homelessness Action Group will help inform the action plan to sit underneath it.

"I would like to place on record my gratitude to all the local authority and third sector outreach officers who work tirelessly to support people sleeping rough into accommodation, work which is both challenging and rewarding.

"We have the building blocks in place to make a real impact and change in this area and despite setbacks we must continue to trust our strategy to prevent and end homelessness in Wales."

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The 'shocking' rise in the number of homeless people sleeping rough in Wales - Wales Online