On Wednesday 12th November, Porchlight held their 8th annual count of people sleeping on the streets. In total 158 people participated in the count, all volunteering to go out from midnight to seek out people who, due to desperate and unfortunate circumstance, find themselves with no other choice but to sleep on the street.
The big difference with this year’s count is that it took place across the county in the following local authority areas: Ashford, Canterbury, Dartford, Dover, Gravesham, Swale, Shepway and Thanet.
Since January this year the Porchlight Kent Outreach Service has been operating Kent wide supporting vulnerable people who are rough sleeping, ‘sofa surfing’, in unsuitable housing or find themselves threatened with imminent homelessness.
Last nights count highlighted the issue of rough sleeping in the county, “In every area we have found people sleeping rough or evidence that there are rough sleepers. The figures however do not do justice to the increase in numbers our outreach team are working with on a daily basis,” commented Kimba Smith, Outreach Strategic Area Manager for Porchlight, who co-ordinated the count.
The hidden homeless
“The street count is only a snap shot of the people who are sleeping rough,” explained Mike Barrett, Chief Executive for Porchlight. “It does not show the whole picture of homelessness, as we never find all the people who we know are rough sleeping and it doesn’t record the hidden homeless – people who are homeless but not necessarily sleeping on the street or at least not every night.”
Porchlight works with the local authorities to co-ordinate the counts. However as this year was the first time the count has taken place Kent wide it has been done as a trial. The count has followed guidance set by the Communities and Local Government Department on ‘hotspot’ counts. The co-ordination of the count will provide a best practice model for feeding in to the official government statistics for rough sleepers next year.
The figures
Despite not being counted as official, the figures for local authority areas across Kent were as follows: In Canterbury we found 4 people sleeping rough and evidence of 3 more. In Dover we found 1 person sleeping rough (evidence of at least 2 more), Thanet 1 person (evidence of 1 more), Shepway 1 person sleeping rough, Ashford 2 people sleeping rough, Gravesham we found 1 person sleeping rough, Dartford we found 0 people sleeping rough (evidence of at least 1) and in Swale we found 0 people sleeping rough (evidence of 4).
The daily numbers
Since its expansion the figures speak for themselves in showing the demand for the outreach service. Between July and September this year the service received 295 referrals with 60% of those sleeping rough. The top 5 highest referrals were from Gravesham (56), Canterbury (45), Dover (38), Dartford (36) and Shepway (29). A third of all the referrals are aged 18 – 24 years old.
The number of people being referred to the outreach team is increasing every day. A snap shot of one day last month shows the team were working with 124 people across Kent with a further 194 are on the waiting list. Of these 194 we know that at least another 112 are sleeping rough.
The outreach team work to access appropriate accommodation for those in need. This could be moving into a hostel or the private rented sector. They will then provide further support to people to help them settle and maintain their tenancy to prevent repeat homelessness.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
1. The rough sleeper street count is undertaken according to guidance set out by the Communities and Local Government Guidance on Evaluating the Extent of Rough Sleeping 2007 Revision.
2. Historical results of numbers of people rough sleeping:
|
|
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
|
Canterbury |
7 |
12 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
8 |
|
Thanet |
6 |
1 |
|
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Dover |
7 |
4 |
16 |
7 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
|
Ashford |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
0 |
|
Shepway |
|
|
|
|
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Total |
20 |
17 |
19 |
14 |
11 |
12 |
19 |
3. Porchlight is an independent local charity that works to support single, vulnerable homeless people or those at risk of homelessness. It was established in 1974 as Canterbury Cyrenians and works throughout Kent.
4. Porchlight has accommodation based projects in Canterbury, Dover, Ashford and Ramsgate. The outreach team works with street homeless people as well as supporting former homeless people in their own homes, to prevent them returning to street life. Other services support people in their own homes who are at risk of becoming homeless.
5. In 2007-8 Porchlight helped over 1,400 vulnerable people. Porchlight projects include:
Kent Outreach: Our street outreach team work across Kent including working within prisons to help offenders who will be released from prison homeless.
Young Persons Services: This includes a direct access hostel, longer stay hostel and shared house, providing support for number years, until each individual is ready to live independently.
Mental Health: We run the only housing project in Kent specifically for people with enduring mental ill-health. We also have a young persons’ mental health service that enables young homeless people with mental health problems to better access the health services they need.
General Accommodation: We have hostels in Canterbury, Dover, Ashford and Ramsgate. They range in the levels of support provided from high support needs with staff available 24hrs a day, to medium support with staff available on a 9-5pm basis.
Floating Support: This is a preventative service that provides support to vulnerable people in their own home who are at risk of becoming homeless. Many of these clients have been through the hostel system and are almost ready to live independently but just need a little support every now and again.
Training and Service User Involvement: We have a team that works with people accessing any of our services and helps them develop their skills and education. We provide tailored training and encourage people to get involved in the running and improvement of their project, or volunteer on a more formal level in the organisation. Porchlight is committed to involving our service users throughout all the activities of the charity. They are actively encouraged to become involved in education, employment, volunteering and service user involvement opportunities.
