The number of people sleeping rough on a single night across all local authorities receiving RSI funding has decreased by 12 % since last year.
The Rough Sleeping Initiative(RSI) was launched in March 2018 and was targeted at local authorities with high numbers of people sleeping rough, based on the 2017 Rough sleeping snapshot. This included a £30m fund for 2018 to 2019 which was allocated to 83 local authorities, as well as a specialist team of Advisers made up of rough sleeping and homelessness experts drawn from local authorities and the third sector (e.g. non-profit organisations). A further £34m for 2019 to 2020 went to the original 83 local authorities and £12m went to 161 new local authorities giving a total fund of £46m across 244 local authorities. This means over three-quarters of local authorities in England are now covered by specialist RSI funding.The initiative funds local authorities to provide specialist services to help the most vulnerable people in society off the streets and into secure accommodation. The initiative is part of the government’s ongoing Rough Sleeping Strategy to end rough sleeping by the end of the parliament. Last year we published the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2018: impact evaluation which found the number of people sleeping rough was 32 % lower than what it would have been had the RSI not been in place in those local authorities. The analysis also found that local authorities that had changed their approach to measure rough sleeping did not account for the fall in rough sleeping seen in those local authorities.The analysis also found that the weather on the night of, and leading up to, the annual snapshot, did not have any impact on the number of people sleeping rough. This suggests local authorities are following guidance to include individuals, who take up emergency accommodation as part of Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP), in the Rough sleeping snapshot. Across all 244 local authorities receiving RSI funding, there were 3,863 people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2019. This is down by 514 people or 12 % from last year. Local authorities receiving funding since 2018 In the 83 local authorities who have been receiving funding since 2018[footnote 3], there were 2,474 people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2019. This is down by 294 people or 11 % from last year and down by 942 people or 28 % from 2017. Across these 83 RSI local authorities, 53 (64 %) of local authorities reported a decrease, 28 (34 %) reported an increase, and 2 (2 %) reported no change in the number of people sleeping rough since last year. As stated earlier, Camden reported the largest decrease of 76 people sleeping rough or 54 %, from 141 in 2018 to 65 people in 2019, which according to the local authority is thought to be largely due to RSI funded projects and assertive outreach activity. Hillingdon reported the largest increase of 36 people or 51 %, sleeping rough from 70 in 2018 to 106 this year. The local authority suggests that this is largely due to increasing numbers of people sleeping rough at Heathrow Airport, in particular people from outside the UK. Local authorities receiving funding from 2019 In the new 161 RSI local authorities who have been receiving funding since 2019[footnote 4] there were 1,389 people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2019. This is down by 220 people or 14 % from last year. Across these 161 RSI local authorities, 81 (50 %) of local authorities reported a decrease, 63 (39 %) reported an increase, and 17 (11 %) reported no change in the number of people sleeping rough since last year. Enfield reported the largest decrease of 54 people, or 69 %, from 78 in 2018 to 24 in 2019. The local authority suggests that this is largely due to funding from both the RSI and RRP which they received for the first time this year, as well as funding from the CWF and the GLA winter programme fund. Windsor and Maidenhead reported the largest increase of 29 people, or 264 % from 11 in 2018 to 40 in 2019. The local authority suggests that this is largely due to increased intelligence and knowledge of where people are sleeping rough in the local authority since the implementation of the RSI. Non-RSI local authorities There were an estimated 403 people sleeping rough across the other 73 local authorities in England which are not part of the RSI, an increase of 103 people or 34 % from 2018 last year. Across these 73 local authorities not part of the RSI, 20 (27 %) of local authorities reported a decrease, 38 (52 %) reported an increase, and 15 (21 %) reported no change in the number of people sleeping rough since last year. Sedgemoor, in the South West reported the largest increase of 22 people in the non-RSI local authorities, from 3 in 2018 to 25 this year. The local authority suggests this is due to a loss of hostel accommodation access for people without a local connection in neighbouring local authorities and increased enforcement activity in nearby town centres. Table 3.1 The number of people sleeping rough in RSI local authorities compared to local authorities not part of the initiative.
Type of areaNo. of areas2017 Snapshot2018 Snapshot2019 SnapshotDifference from one year agoDifference from two years ago% Change from one year ago% Change from two years ago No Funding732883004031031153440 RSI funding from 2018833,4162,7682,474-294-942-11-28 RSI funding from 20191611,0471,6091,389-220342-1433 (RSI combined)2444,4634,3773,863-514-600-12-13 All Local Authorities3174,7514,6774,266-411-485-9-10 Figure 3.1: The number of people sleeping rough in RSI local authorities compared to local authorities not part of the initiative.