To address national homelessness policy on reducing the number of persons sleeping rough, the city council's Housing Advisory Service has been working with a number of agencies to develop a rough sleeper strategy to tackle the problem here in Preston. In order to assess how effective this work has been, we carry out a formal count of rough sleepers on a periodic basis.

A count took place in Preston during the early hours of 26/11/2009. It was coordinated by the Foxton Centre and was carried out by teams comprising voluntary agency and city council staff, several elected members, other volunteers and overseen by a representative from Central Government.

Each team covered a designated area of the city, taking particular account of sites known to be or reported to be used by rough sleepers.

The result of the count was that four individuals were found, with several locations also apparently in use, although not occupied at that time by rough sleepers. The previous recorded count in Preston found nine rough sleepers.

An area of South Ribble was also surveyed as part of the count and four individuals were found there.

Some of those found were already known to staff involved in the count. Where possible, count teams spoke with those found to invite them to call into the council or the Foxton Centre for help with housing.

During office hours on 26 November three of those rough sleepers had contacted Housing Advice and interviews for accommodation were arranged for them.

Work will continue to monitor and improve upon the work done to try to minimize the extent of rough sleeping in Preston.

Date Updated: 10/08/10