Statutory Homelessness

Statutory homelessness figures relate to the definition of homelessness in the 1996 Housing Act. Statistics are collected on people who apply for homelessness assistance to local authorities and people who are deemed to be homeless under the legal definition

• Statutory homelessness statistics for England can be found on the Communities and Local Government (CLG) website. Follow the link to the approprate quarter, where there are links to statistical spreadsheets including the Supplementary Table, which gives a breakdown by region and local authority. The March 2008 release covers the quarter to December 2008.
• There were 15,960 acceptances, during the April - June quarter, 18 per cent lower than in the same period in 2006, and the lowest quarterly value since the early 1980s.
• 84,900 households were in temporary accommodation on 30 June 2007, 3 per cent lower than at the end of last quarter, and 10 per cent lower than this time last year.

Rough Sleeping

Knowing precisely how many people sleep rough at any time is impossible: people move about, hide away or travel all night on buses. Others who claim they are sleeping rough may be begging but actually have somewhere to stay. In the 1990s, the voluntary sector and the Government agreed a way to measure rough sleeping consistently, to show trends and patterns. This helped to allocate resources fairly and measure their impact. The methodology only counts people actually seen ‘bedded down’ by local teams during a short period at night. The methodology therefore reveals the absolute minimum level of rough sleeping rather than the full extent.

• The CLG collects statistics on rough sleeping in England. These include the national rough sleeping estimate in June 2007, which gives a figure (from a street count) for individual local authorities across the country and a national estimate, currently 498 people.

• Broadway publishes quarterly and annual reports on rough sleeping in London, based on data from the CHAIN database.
  • In 2006/07 2997 people were recorded on CHAIN sleeping rough in London, and over 1,500 new people were contacted by outreach or Building Based Services (BBS).
  • The April to June 2007 report shows a decrease in numbers of people sleeping rough on the streets of London, compared to the same period last year. 905 people were seen bedded down this quarter. This is 16% lower than in the same quarter last year (1087).

• The Simon Community often disputes the official figures and carries out its own street counts. In April 2007, it found 301 people sleeping rough in eight inner London boroughs.

• In Nottinghamshire the HLG conduct an annual survey with homelessness agencies in the county to give a snapshot of the homeless population. In 2006 the Homelessness Watch Survey 219 presentations were recorded in a forthnight where the client slept rough the night before contacting an agency.

• An alternative source of national data are the Supporting People client records. This dataset covers people accessing Supporting People (SP) services and would not cover those engaging with services and/or still on the street, sinceit is a record of an individual's needs and situation when they start receiving housing related support. However, it can give an idea of number of people that come to services as rough sleepers. In the client records people accessing services are put in a primary client group and then up to three secondary client groups. In 2006/07 5,992 were recorded in the rough sleeper primary client group. Note, however, that a greater number of people may have been recorded as rough sleepers in the secondary client group category and that the figures do not eliminate double counting of individuals who access more than one SP service, or who leave a service and return.

Supported Accommodation/hostels

For many homeless individuals without dependents who the main housing option is hostel accommodation, the majority of which receive Supporting People (SP). People living in hostels may or may not have been accepted as statutory homeless.

• There were just under 47,000 household units in this category, receiving support under SP in 2005. (1)

• See map of Supporting People accommodation contracts for homeless people without dependants (single homeless, rough sleepers and young people at risk) by administering authority, based on the Survey of Needs and Provision (SNAP).

• See map of Supporting People accommodation household units for homeless people without dependants (single homeless, rough sleepers and young people at risk) by administering authority, based on the Survey of Needs and Provision (SNAP).

Hidden homeless

There are other people who are homeless who do not show up in official figures. These include individuals and families who become homeless but find a temporary solution by staying with family members or friends. These are often referred to as sofa surfing or concealed households. Others live in squats. There have been attempts to quantify the level of this “hidden homelessness”.

• The New Policy Institute in their research for Crisis in 2003, estimated that there are between 310,00 and 380,000 hidden homeless people (Note that this figure includes people in hostels, who are not "hidden". ). (2) More information about hidden homelessness is available on Crisis website