Recommendation 12

In June 2020 the Department began regular data collections from local authorities on numbers of people sleeping rough in their area.40 In spite of the Everyone In initiative (and other measures, such as a ban on evictions in the private rental sector), there were reports of increasing numbers of people sleeping on the streets over summer and autumn 2020.41 The data gathered by the Department apparently confirms the upward trend over this period.42 At the start of December the Department told us it was considering potential options for publication of this data.43 It has not published any of this data covering the summer or autumn of 2020, but in February 2021 it began publishing monthly data for rough sleeping numbers, beginning in December 2020. At our evidence session, the Department was confident that at the time the most recent snapshot was taken, in autumn 2020, the numbers of people sleeping rough were significantly lower than in 2019.44 This was confirmed, in February 2021, when the 2020 snapshot was published: this recorded rough sleeping figures of 2,688, a reduction of 37% from the 2019 snapshot.45 33 Public Accounts Committee, Homeless households, Eleventh Report of Session 2017–19, HC 462, December 2017, conclusions 3–4. 34 C&AG’s Report, Figure 1. 35 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2019, 27 February 2020. 36 C&AG’s Report, para 2.1. 37 Q 47. 38 Q 47; C&AG’s Report, para 2.3. 39 Q 47. 40 C&AG’s Report, para 2.9. 41 Q 54; C&AG’s Report, para 2.8. 42 C&AG’s Report, para 2.9. 43 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Letter from Jeremy Pocklington CB to Meg Hillier MP, 2 December 2020. 44 Q 6. 45 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2020, 25 February 2020. 12 COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough 2 Funding and policy implementation Funding during the pandemic