AN INVESTIGATION into those sleeping rough in Worcester found people in shop doorwars, stairwells or even in car parks.
Staff from Worcester City Council, Maggs Day Centre and countywide contractor CCP joined the city’s street pastors to carry out an official count of the number of people sleeping rough in the city.
The result will be delivered to the Department for Local Communities and Local Government (DCLG), which is compiling rough sleeping figures from across the UK for publication in the spring.
A similar count was held in Worcester in November last year and the number of rough sleepers at that time was ten.
The count was organised by Ben Bradley, Single Homeless Pathways Officer at Worcester City Council.
“We conducted the count in a sensitive manner to ensure we did not disturb anyone who was sleeping rough,” he said.
“Every local council has to provide an annual count figure or estimate of rough sleeping, following robust guidelines set down by the charity Homeless Link, which works closely with DCLG.
“We also had an independent Homeless Link verifier with us to ensure the guidance was fully followed.”
The count is just one element of the work that goes into monitoring the number of people sleeping rough in Worcester.
It forms part of the Government’s national programme for monitoring and tracking the amount of people sleeping rough across the UK on a typical night.
