Lord Lucasasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their best estimate of the number of people sleeping rough in London; how this figure was obtained; and by how much they hope to reduce it and over what period.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for the Environment and Transport (Baroness Hayman)The following table gives figures from single night head counts of people sleeping rough in Greater London, undertaken by voluntary sector homelessness agencies and local authorities. Housing authorities have an obligation to consider the housing needs of everyone residing in their areas, including people sleeping rough, and to reflect those needs in their housing strategies. Government assistance specifically to tackle rough sleeping is provided in areas where a major rough sleeping problem has been demonstrated, including most of the areas listed below. Funding is provided through a number of programmes, including the Department of the Environment's Rough Sleepers Initiative and Rough Sleepers Revenue Fund, and the Department of Health's Homeless Mentally Ill Initiative and Drug and Alcohol Specific Grant. The Government86WA expects these programmes to result in significant reductions in the numbers of people sleeping rough over the next two to three years; and our overall aim is to ensure that there is no necessity for people to sleep rough in Britain.
Area Number of rough sleepers Source Strand/West End 140 Counts conducted by voluntary sector homelessness agencies on 14 November 1996, co-ordinated by Homeless Network Victoria 44 Waterloo/The Bullring 57 Soulh Camden 45 Whitechapel and the City 43 W1/W2 postal districts 28 Barnet 2 Counts conducted in June and July 1996 by Shelter, on contract to the Department of the Environment, in conjunction with local authorities and local voluntary sector agencies. Ealing 24 Hammersmith and Fulham 19 Kensington and Chelsea 25 Richmond-upon-Thames 12 Tower Hamlets1 8 Waltham Forest 2 Total: 449 1 The figure for the Tower Hamlets area excludes the western side of Borough, which is included in the Whitehcapel and City area.