Homelessness accommodation provision and rough sleeping: August 2020

This monthly collection replaces the weekly gathering of intelligence during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

It covers emergency accommodation and provision of long term accommodation for people (aged 16+) who present to local authorities for housing support as they are at risk of homelessness.

This data has not undergone the same level of quality assurance as official statistics and the data may be revised in future. The figures for the latest month should be treated as provisional. Not all local authorities have been able to provide comprehensive data and this is reflected, where relevant, in the footnotes.

We are initially publishing data at the Wales-level only. We are still assessing and understanding the quality of the data being collected. In future, we will consider publishing other breakdowns where possible, including by local authority.

Ability to compare with statutory homelessness statistics

It is important to note these differences between this new monthly collection and our existing data collections and publications on statutory homelessness.

• This monthly data relates to the number of individuals at risk of homelessness and housing provision.
• Our quarterly and annual collections on statutory homelessness capture data on number of households, not individuals. That data relates to homelessness as defined by the Housing (Wales) Act 2014.

Main points

• Throughout Wales 974 people presenting as homeless were placed into emergency accommodation during the month.
• 476 homeless individuals were moved into suitable long-term accommodation (a)(b).
• At 31 August 2020 3,566 individuals were in temporary accommodation (b)(c)(d).
• At 31 August 2020 there were 101 individuals sleeping rough throughout Wales (e).

(a) One local authority was unable to provide any data for this category.
(b) One local authority reported households not persons. Therefore, there will be a small undercount in the total figure presented.
(c) One local authority did not include homeless at home.
(d) One local authority was unable to obtain data from women’s refuges in their local authority.
(e) Local authorities are asked to base this data on local intelligence, not a one-night count.