The programme has included funding of outreach and resettlement work with rough sleepers and the provision of hostels, winter shelters, privately leased flats and housing association permanent homes. More than 3,200 people had been permanently rehoused into RSI funded tenancies by March 1996. The number of people sleeping rough on any one night in the original RSI central London area has reduced significantly, from 741 in April 1991 to around 270 and has stabilised at this number for the past two years. Around half of people sleeping rough had at least one special support need, the most common problems being alcohol and mental health. Only four per cent said they would prefer to sleep rough in the longer term, but 40 per cent said they would not accept an offer of a hostel bed.
Hostels are an essential first step in the resettlement process for most people.
Temporary winter shelters were successful in providing for some people who do not use ordinary hostels. There was an improvement in the targeting of the programme on longer term rough sleepers. The new consortia of agencies had improved inter-agency work. The second phase of the RSI built on the success of the first three years, with an improved focus on longer term rough sleepers and on the provision of effective support services to help them to move into and sustain permanent homes. The number of people sleeping rough on any one night in the original RSI central London area has reduced from 741 in April 1991 to around 270 and has stabilised at this number for the past two years.