Cornwall figures show increase in those sleeping rough

A Cornwall wide survey carried out by Cornwall Council and its partners during May and June of this year has revealed an increase in the number of people who consider themselves to be sleeping rough, with 88 people saying that have slept out for more than a week.

A previous survey conducted last October revealed that 76 individuals identified themselves as sleeping rough with 65 saying they had done so for a month or longer.

Cornwall Council head of housing Jane Barlow said: “We expected to see an increase in numbers as we have improved the scope of the survey to include the whole of Cornwall, refined the methodology to ask more questions about people’s connection to Cornwall (or not) as well as a specific question about how long they have slept rough.

The October survey covered only part of Cornwall and we had no data for the areas to the east of St Austell. We might also reasonably expect the number of rough sleepers to increase during the summer months as people from outside of Cornwall come here during the warmer weather.

Having said all that, it is still an increase and we are working hard with our partners to target outreach and resources to help entrenched rough sleepers find routes off the street as well specifically targeting those new to rough sleeping.”