The government has released the annual rough sleeping figures for the country and despite supporting more people who are sleeping rough into safe and secure housing than the previous year, Solihull’s official figure for rough sleeping is 12 people, double last year’s figure of six.
The national rough sleeping figures are produced annually as a snapshot by every local authority in the country on a single night in autumn. It is recorded annually in this way in order to monitor rough sleeping patterns year on year and region by region.
Alongside this snapshot, Solihull Council tracks patterns and numbers of people sleeping rough to inform and strengthen its rough sleeper outreach work and other support throughout the year.
Solihull Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Mark Parker, said: “The annual figure for people sleeping rough in Solihull is usually low when compared with national and regional figures. This year’s increase is disappointing as the amount of people that our Rough Sleeper Outreach team has supported has increased.
“From 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 the Rough Sleeper Outreach team identified and offered support to 69 people who were rough sleeping in the borough. Of these, 39% stopped rough sleeping. Since 1 April 2024, the team has already identified and offered support to 105 people rough sleeping and 43% are making the journey off the streets.
“Without the team’s patient intervention and consistent work with other statutory and voluntary sector agencies it’s clear that the figure would have been much higher.
“Streetlink, the national reporting website which residents contact with information about people sleeping rough, passed 303 alerts to the team last year – a rise of over 200% on the previous year. All of these alerts were responded to quickly and efficiently with the utmost care.
“The St Basils Solihull Youth Hub drop-in centre at Chelmsley Wood Library, which we relaunched last year, continues to provide accessible early advice and assistance for young people in the borough who think they are going to be homeless.
“But it’s not enough. We need residents, voluntary groups and local businesses to continue to work with us. Please report anyone you suspect of sleeping rough to Streetlink. The team can only support our vulnerable residents if they know where to support. The pile of cardboard by the bridge, the pop-up tent in the park. Is it someone homeless in need of help? Please work with us to get people into safe and secure housing.
“Lastly, please continue to support our campaign Change into Action Solihull (CiA). Since its launch it has raised nearly £70,000 for local groups to provide additional items or training to help people into safe accommodation.”