The first challenge is to agree what homelessness is and just who should be counted as homeless. Right now, it is far from clear.
People who are homeless are part of a much wider group with acute housing needs, including those living in overcrowded, insecure or unfit homes.
The Government publishes figures for two groups of homeless people – households that apply to local councils as homeless and rough sleepers identified by local street headcounts. It also tracks the numbers of households placed by councils in temporary accommodation.
In the last year, of the 193,690 households that applied to councils in England, 139,760 were found to be homeless according to the statutory definition. The most recent quarterly figures continue a downward trend since these figures peaked in 2003.
The 41,030 remaining homeless households were found not to be in priority need. They were entitled to receive only 'advice and assistance'. This can vary substantially from area to area. It can sometimes consist of little more than a list of local landlords. No record is kept of what happens to them next.
Under homelessness law the local authority has to look at any accommodation you can access. To decide if you are legally “homeless” it will see if:
The second decision is whether you are in ‘priority need’. You fit this category if:
If you do not have a 'local connection' the local authority can refer you to another where you do.
If your homelessness is considered intentional, the local authority has fewer obligations.
FEANTSA, the European federation of homelessness organisations, has developed a typology of homelessness and housing exclusion known as ETHOS. It identifies three overlapping ‘domains’ in the concept of a home, physical, social and legal, and suggests conceptual categories. They are:
| Category | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Homeless | Rooflessness Houselessness |
rough sleeping, nightshelters hostels or other temporary accommodation |
| Housing exclusion | Insecure Inadequate |
staying temporarily with friends, squatting overcrowding, caravan, unfit housing |
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 most recent figure published by the Government for all the counts in England is 502, up 9 per cent on the previous year. In some areas, counts are supplemented by other information that gives a fuller picture. In London, the CHAIN database records all contacts with rough sleepers by homelessness services. From these we know that, over the course of a year, approximately ten times as many people are identified as sleeping rough in London than those identified by the snapshot street counts.
CHAIN reported a 9 per cent increase in the number of people having slept rough in the capital in 2005/6, up to 2,807. Other approaches produce different figures but the trends over time are roughly the same.
There are estimated to be between 40,000 and 50,000 people in hostels and other supported accommodation for homeless people. Some offer very temporary stays, for example night shelters provide beds on a night-by-night basis. In others, people may stay for six months to two years. Sometimes, unfortunately, a room may effectively be someone’s home for many years. Most of these projects are funded by the Supporting People programme.
There are other people who are homeless who do not show up in any 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 310,000 and 380,000 hidden homeless people. However, this figure does include people in hostels. Local authorities have a duty to produce homelessness strategies for their area covering all forms of homelessness. Good strategies will start by drawing together a full picture of the levels and nature of homelessness in their area.
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