Each autumn an annual street count is taken of the number of people rough sleeping in the UK. This number provides the government’s estimate as to how many people likely to be sleeping on the streets on a given night, and can be compared to previous years’ figures.
This year Homeless Oxfordshire’s CEO Simon Hewett-Avison joined the street count in Oxford. Here are his thoughts about the initiative.
“This was a first for me. I volunteered to join colleagues from Oxford City Council, St Mungo’s and Homeless Link for the annual street count and we assembled as a slightly weary team at 1am at O’Hanlon House, the hostel run by Homeless Oxfordshire which we used as a base for the night.
What was clear from the start was the amount of experience, compassion and in-depth knowledge among the team. Many had carried out street counts before and the St Mungo’s outreach team had decades of experience between them. I felt in very safe hands!
The process is well organised and structured with Homeless Link overseeing as official verifiers. Our verifier was brilliant and was a font of knowledge helping everyone understand what information we were to collect and how we should be doing it.
We would be split into small groups with different ‘rounds’ across the city which were demarcated on the map. The team knew roughly how many people they would be likely to see on each round, as many of the people rough sleeping in Oxford are already known to the services. Our job was to verify those numbers and collect demographic data about each of those people.
Following a briefing on safety and recent referrals, and a review of maps noting any particular locations we should focus on, we split into our groups and ventured into the Oxford night to begin our rounds.
I was lucky enough to join a navigator from St Mungo’s and the verifier from Homeless Link. We set off on what was to be the longest round, but with likely the fewest people to speak with. It was a clear and cold night and despite the wonderful buildings and green spaces of Oxford, it quickly became evident just how quiet, isolating and intimidating the city can be for people sleeping on the streets.
Over three hours we met and spoke with three people on our seven-and-a-half mile walk. Each was by themselves, tucked away from sight and with their own unique and heart-breaking story. All three people were known to St Mungo’s and the City Council and various forms of support were already in place for each of them. That knowledge didn’t make it any easier to walk away knowing they had another three to four hours to endure before daylight.
Unfortunately, the other teams came across many more people during their rounds and it is fair to say there was a quiet and solemn feeling as we all returned to O’Hanlon House. We talked through the routes to ensure we didn’t duplicate any figures and ensured the verifier had all the demographic data they needed. The official numbers will be verified and released in early 2025.
I am deeply thankful for the experience. Outreach work is tough and the feeling of helplessness is real. I hated walking away from people sleeping on the streets even with the knowledge they did have some support in place. Housing is obviously a key issue, but mental and physical health, language barriers, fear and trust issues were equally large barriers for those we spoke with.
Thank you to all the colleagues who help to make the street count possible each year and to colleagues across Oxfordshire working tirelessly to reduce and prevent rough sleeping and to improve the experience for people facing homelessness.”
