Scottish Government

Section 2: Outcome 1: No-one should have the need to sleep rough

42. This outcome is a continuation of the previous national target that by 2003 no-one should have the need to sleep rough. Research carried out by George Street in 2005 ¹¹ showed that this target had been narrowly missed; whilst overall across Scotland there was enough accommodation, this was not the case in every single council area. In addition to understanding the capacity of local authorities to provide bed spaces, the local outcome agreement and progress report process sought to gain a better understanding of local authorities' efforts to engage people sleeping rough and provide appropriate services to them which would help them achieve better outcomes.

43. National homelessness statistics indicate that 7% of homeless applicants report that at least one member of their household slept rough the night before the application. In March 2007, the six-monthly statistics bulletin ¹² gave a brief discussion of the information gleaned from data and emphasised that this could only give a partial picture of the true extent of rough sleeping in Scotland. The bulletin estimated that during the period for which there is both statistical data and street counts, the former measured about 40% of the number estimated to have slept rough using street counts. However whilst statistical data on rough sleeping is incomplete, it can be used to track trends, as the downward trend in rough sleeping recorded through street counts is also apparent in the statistical data for the same period.

44. Whilst the national proportion of applicants reporting that they slept rough the night before applying is 7%, this figure varies hugely amongst individual local authorities from less than 1% to 22%. On the whole, urban areas show a higher proportion.

45. Overall, the national data indicate a decrease in the proportion of applicants reporting they slept rough the night before applying, from 10% in 2002-03, to 7% for 2005/06; the absolute number has also decreased from 443 applicants per month to 323 per month. Whilst the overall trend is downwards, six authorities show an increase in the absolute number of people reporting rough sleeping via the national statistics. Three authorities show very large decreases.

46. Through the local outcome agreements and progress reports, eight authorities reported that capacity is sufficient to meet demand, or that there was no need to sleep rough, in their areas. The majority of the other authorities did not explicitly state that they can meet demand, but said that there was very little rough sleeping in their areas.

47. Some rural authorities reported that while they had little or no direct access accommodation, they did provide adequate temporary accommodation and make information on this service widely known. Some innovative approaches to emergency accommodation provision were mentioned - such as the development of a Nightstop service offering a safe and secure environment for young people while solutions are found to their housing problems, and a crash pad facility where hosts make available a spare room in their family home for use by a homeless person for a defined period of time.

48. However, three authorities stated that it was very difficult to meet demand for emergency accommodation in their areas. Communities Scotland inspectors have also found that some councils did not discharge their duties to provide accommodation to people who were roofless. This is a breach of statutory duties, which is obviously of very serious concern and is being addressed in improvement plans agreed with the relevant councils.

49. A number of authorities commented that the statistics they provide on a national basis do not reflect the reality of rough sleeping in their area. In most of these cases it was reported that the official statistics over-estimate the prevalence of rough sleeping, although one authority stated that the statistics were likely to be an under-estimate. Most of those local authorities which do not feel the figures are robust are putting in place processes to address this.

50. A wide range of services are in place to meet the need of rough sleepers and those at risk of sleeping rough. Many authorities have introduced dedicated street teams and/or outreach workers and also have dedicated daycentres which provide services such as health provision, food, and washing and laundry facilities. Some authorities have dedicated health workers, such as GPs, nurses (who can administer a needle exchange), community psychiatric nurses and counsellors.

51. In common with the more generally reported concern, several authorities noted that it can be difficult to put in place appropriate measures for those rough sleepers who have multiple and complex needs - specific difficulties reported relate to a lack of specialist services in a rural area; the reluctance of accommodation providers to engage with these households; and the lack of crisis cover in other services, such as mental health. However, there are examples of authorities adopting targeted approaches, for example the reprovisioned services put in place through the Glasgow hostels closure programme addressing areas such as alcohol related brain damage.

52. Local authorities were asked to report on issues regarding rough sleepers' non-engagement with services through their local outcome agreements and progress reports. Most authorities reported very low levels of non-engagement with services offered. A few authorities acknowledged that their knowledge of non-engagement was limited with some of these doing further research to quantify this. Some authorities stated that they were tackling non-engagement through raising awareness of availability of services.

53. In reporting on outcomes for rough sleepers, most authorities focused on the basic measure of bedspaces available. However some authorities also reported on other activities such as health outreach and better engagement with a few referring to use of the matrix model to track improvements for people engaging in services. One authority has its own methodology for identifying and tracking outcomes and has used this to provide information on many aspects of rough sleepers' lives. Another has developed and is implementing a cross sector crisis response framework which identifies the steps in the process of tackling homelessness crisis and can support monitoring of any gaps and blockages in the system. Such monitoring models will become ever more important in designing, delivering, improving and funding services now that the ring-fence around local government homelessness services has been removed.