DCLG accused of error in homelessness statistics

A coalition of charities has complained to the UK Statistics Authority about a report from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) on the grounds that it appeared to exclude male rough sleepers.

The DCLG report, Rough Sleeping in England: Autumn 2016, was published in January.  According to the Men and Boys Coalition it “only included statistics on female rough sleepers, even though it can be deduced that the overwhelming [majority]…of rough sleepers are male”. The Coalition extrapolates from the information in the report that 88% of rough sleepers are men or boys. In a significant minority - 40% - of local authorities, males make up the full population of people sleeping rough.

The complaint from the Coalition alleges that the DCLG has breached the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice. In a statement on this issue, the Coalition says: “The one demographic characteristic which puts individuals at greatest relative risk of becoming homeless and sleeping rough is male gender. These statistics show that a man is almost eight times as likely to end up sleeping rough as a woman. By failing to even acknowledge the gender of the vast majority of rough sleepers, the DCLG is failing to recognise the fundamental social and political causes of homelessness.”

“A DCLG spokesman said: "We do not recognise this interpretation of the statistics. The Government is clear that one person without a home is one too many. That’s why we’re investing over £550 million to reduce homelessness and we are supporting Bob Blackman’s Homelessness Reduction Bill to prevent more people from becoming homeless in the first place.”