Number of people sleeping rough in Wales has risen by 17% in a year

Wales
Wales
Wednesday 5 February 2020 at 11:24am

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

Every year the Welsh government ask councils to count the number of people sleeping rough to feed into a national rough sleeper count.

This is an increase of 58 people compared with the 2018 survey.

Local authorities reported 176 people sleeping rough across the country between 10pm on the 7th and 5am on 8th November 2019 - which was an increase of 11% (18 people) on the previous year.

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

There were 210 spaces across Wales, an increase of 14% on the previous year.

Despite this increase, 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 Housing Minister, Julie James AM said she was "not surprised by the increase."

The count provides a snapshot picture of rough sleeper numbers, with local authorities providing a two week estimate and undertaking a one night count. We have set out in previous years the limitations of the count and acknowledged last year that the apparent stabilisation of rough sleeper numbers in 2018 did not reflect what we all saw on the streets of Wales. As a Government committed to the goal of ending homelessness, we are of course disappointed that the numbers reported in the 2019 count have increased. We are not, however, surprised by the increase. It reflects the reality of what we see on our streets, the complexity of the issues and the discussions we have with stakeholders. As well as the work of the Homelessness Action Group, Welsh Government is already investing in and supporting local authorities to take forward innovative projects to prevent rough sleeping or rapidly re-house rough sleepers with complex needs. We have protected homelessness budgets, including the vital £126m which goes into the Housing Support Grant.

Homelessness charity Crisis said there are "clearly some short-term actions needed to stop the situation getting any worse."