Caution over homelessness figures

BY LUKE COPPEN
CATHOI I( I tomelessness
charities have responded cautiously to claims that the number of people sleeping rough on the streets has fallen drastically.
The Government announced on Monday that there were now fewer than 550 rough sleepers in England, compared to nearly 2,000 in 1998. But
Britain's homelessness campaigners questioned the accuracy of the statistics, Philip Burke, of the Simon Community, a non denominational charity which works with the homeless in London, claimed that members of the Government's Rough Sleepers Unit tried to reduce the number of rough sleepers on the night of the count.
But Unit head Louise Casey denied the claim, saying that the Government had not fiddled the figures. Steven Lee-Foster, director of Providence Row, one of Britain's oldest homelessness charities, said that the Government's figures were only the tip of the iceberg.
He said: "We think that these sorts of counts only show part of the picture. We are concerned about the people who are counted out. We're also concerned that, as Christmas approaches, the Government is congratulating itself prematurely.
"We are concerned that a lot of people aren't going to get the help they need. because they are not visibly sleeping on the streets.'' Michael Ryan, director of the Cardinal Hume Centre, said he accepted that the Government statistics were trustworthy.
He said: "We run a dropin centre at the Cardinal Hume Centre. The number of rough sleepers has dwindled over the past 18 months. We see very few now. We take that as evidence that the strategy is working."
However, Mr Ryan emphasised that other types of homelessness were on the increase.
"The number of homeless people has increased. We're talking about people who are in hostels. the 'hidden
homeless', who may be sleeping on a friend's floor, people who are living in bed and breakfast accommodation."
The Government is preparing to replace the Rough Sleepers Unit with a
new Homelessness Directorate, to tackle the
wider problem of homelessness.