Scottish Government

Social Justice
a Scotland where everyone matters
Indicators of Progress 2003

Milestone 12: No one has to sleep rough

The data for this milestone is taken from the research carried out on behalf of the Scottish Executive specifically to monitor the impact of the Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) and to assess progress towards delivery of the Executive's target. This work has three parts:

1. A bi-annual (spring and autumn) prevalence assessment of the numbers of rough sleepers across Scotland, to be measured as a 'snapshot' figure for a typical week.

2. A bi-annual audit of available accommodation for homeless people and rough sleepers. This work to be carried out alongside the prevalence assessment (above).

3. A qualitative assessment of how demand and supply factors work together in various localities across Scotland.

(a) Total numbers sleeping rough in the study period

In October 2003, 328 individuals were identified as having slept rough on at least one occasion during the study period. This had fallen from a figure of 400 in May 2003.

Table 12a: Total number of rough sleepers

In terms of the profile of those sleeping rough, each of the six studies show that most of those sleeping rough are men (81 to 85 per cent), and the age group which makes up the largest proportion of rough sleepers is the 25-40 age group, consistently comprising almost half of all those identified as sleeping rough. Very few under 16 year olds are ever recorded.

The study is able to identify individuals (using a unique code), and is therefore able to provide an indication of the extent of repeated rough sleeping. No individuals were identified as appearing in all six counts. The data on this are not comprehensive as they rely upon complete identifiers being known for each individual sleeping rough who appears in the counts. It does however demonstrate that a small but significant number of people have dipped in and out of rough sleeping during the period of the count. Evidence of cyclical rough sleeping of this kind supports the observations of service providers about the difficulty of providing long term support for some individuals.

(b) Supply of accommodation

Two "spotter nights" were used in each of the study periods to compare the rough sleeping figures with the available accommodation in those areas with direct access provision. The comparisons given below are for the mid-week spotter night, which - in all six studies - had a higher number of rough sleepers than the weekend spotter night.

In May 2001, 155 bed spaces were available on the night that 70 people were recorded sleeping rough (giving an available bed capacity of 85). In October 2001, 187 bed spaces were available, when 117 people reported they had slept rough, and in May 2002 there were 297 spaces on a night when 121 rough sleepers were recorded. In October 2002, there were 164 spaces when 80 rough sleepers were recorded. In May 2003, there were 191 spaces when 94 rough sleepers were recorded and in October 2003, 140 spaces and 85 individuals sleeping rough. The table below shows that out of the local authorities with direct access hostel accommodation (15 authorities in 2001, 16 in 2002 and 18 in 2003), the number of authorities that did not have sufficient spaces across the authority to accommodate the rough sleepers identified in their areas stood at 3 in May 2001, 5 in October 2001, 6 in May 2002, 2 in October 2002, 4 in May 2003 and 5 in October 2003.

The figures show that while rough sleeping takes place across the country, it is concentrated (in numerical terms) in Glasgow and Edinburgh. There is also evidence that a small number of local authorities still suffer from shortage of direct-access provision, while others should monitor the situation carefully to ensure that future needs are met. Small-scale instances of rough sleeping in authorities that have a surplus of direct-access provision are testament to the continuing challenge of ensuring that people take up the accommodation and support services available to them. This is a key element in local authorities' new Homelessness Strategies into which the RSI will be incorporated from 2004 onwards.

Table 12b: Available bed capacity in direct access accommodation by local authority area, May 2001 - October 2003

On the mid-week spotter nights in May 2001, October 2001, May 2002, October 2002, May 2003 and October 2003, 22, 12, 32, 32, 17 and 12 individuals respectively were actually refused entry to accommodation. In May 2003, 10 individuals were refused entry because of insufficient space, 1 was banned and the remainder for other reasons. In October 2003, 5 individuals were refused entry because of insufficient space, 2 were banned and the remainder for other reasons.

Homelessness case returns from local authorities

Data are also available from the Homelessness (HL1) case-based returns from each local authority homeless applicant. Information on rough sleeping has been collected since December 2001. The form now asks questions about rough sleeping at the time the applicant presents as homeless. The definition of rough sleeping used in the HL1 return is the same as the policy definition of rough sleeping used in the RSI. The questions asked are as follows:

• Has any member of the applicant household slept rough during the 3 months preceding their application
• Did any member of the applicant household sleep rough on the night immediately preceding the date of application

Data collected through the new system show that out of the 45,770 individual households applying under the Homeless Persons legislation between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2002, there were 6,052 cases where at least one household member had slept rough in the past three months. This represents 13 per cent of households, with single-person male households being somewhat more likely to have slept rough.

Table 12c: Percentage of households applying in 2002 under the Homeless Persons legislation where at least one member slept rough in the past three months

Availability of data and references

The information was collected from rough sleepers by those organisations who come into contact with them on a daily basis. The organisations who participated in the survey included RSI funded projects, as well as other projects and services working closely with rough sleepers. All housing department RSI contacts were included (for appropriate inclusion of local housing offices and other nominated projects) plus a mix of RSI partner agencies, as appropriate to local circumstances. The information collected is available by age, gender and local authority.

ROUGH SLEEPERS INITIATIVE -MONITORING THE TARGET OF ENDING THE NEED TO SLEEP ROUGH BY 2003- second report 2001-2002
www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/social/rough.pdf