As Winter Bites, Tragedy Strikes
Three homeless people have died in the last 10 days – two men died in a fire while trying to keep warm at a derelict building in Manchester and last Tuesday a 30-year-old man froze to death in a Birmingham car park.
The annual count of rough sleepers, carried out by 44 English authorities and estimated by the other 282, finished last week. Sources at three cities told the Observer their figures, which are yet to be officially released, were double last year’s number.
But homeless charities say the counts only pick up the most visible – those sleeping in shop doorways, for example – and miss the majority hidden in derelict buildings or other makeshift shelters. Official government figures for the 2015 count were 3,569 people sleeping rough in England on a single night, more than double (up 102%) from 2010. But outreach workers in London dispute these figures. They reported seeing 8,000 people on the streets of the capital alone last year.
Howard Sinclair, chief executive of homelessness charity St Mungo’s, says the true figure is 10 times that. “Rough sleeping is increasing year-on-year – and so are the needs of those people, the complex issues, the range of problems,” he says. “The degree of need is much, much higher than it was even three years ago.”
“With all of this the numbers can only worsen, the housing crisis is not just about house prices and the shortage of social housing, but problems with private landlords. That’s the area we’re really seeing a rise in, people ending up on the streets after tenancy breakdowns.”
“What you see is that strata of people who really have nothing – no money, no front door key, no friend or family. That number is growing. And you can’t just pin it all on local authorities, the health service is failing people too – 90% of rough sleepers are discharged from hospitals back on to the streets.”
But Liverpool Mayor, Joe Anderson, told the BBC: “There is still a misconception that those who are sleeping rough are doing so because there is nowhere for them to go. We fund 750 beds a night in Liverpool but not everybody is accepting the offer of help despite the No Second Night Out gaining tremendous support from the public. We have to accept that some rough sleepers are refusing help and with a harsh winter ahead we need to find new ways to solve that problem.”
The Whitechapel Centre is coordinating the outreach response to rough sleeping in Liverpool as part of the No Second Night Out campaign. So if you have seen someone sleeping rough or are worried about someone who may be sleeping on the street tonight, give the Whitechapel Centre a call on 0300 123 2041(low cost).
