Increasing Need

Today, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities released the Autumn snapshot showing numbers of people found to be rough sleeping in a single night between October and November 2022. For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, the number of people rough sleeping had increased.

While New Hope has an active outreach team who respond to alerts of people sleeping rough and visit those known to them to offer regular support, the official Rough Sleeping Snapshot for Watford is carried out annually by New Hope, Watford Borough Council and many volunteers. Throughout the night, several teams of staff and volunteers head out to visit places around the town where people known to be sleeping outdoors are and to other locations with a history of rough sleeping. To record an individual as rough sleeping, they must be either asleep, awake but on their bedding or lying down about to sleep – those who are not yet in such a position may also be rough sleeping but, for the purpose of the snapshot, they cannot be recorded as rough sleeping.

The number of people recorded as rough sleeping in Watford on the date of the annual snapshot was 10 people and, while a useful number to compare to other local councils on a similar night in Autumn, this number will vary night by night and likely be quite different in the height of summer or winter. For those who are rough sleeping, New Hope’s Outreach Plus team are responsive to any reports of rough sleeping and proactively reach out to support people both known and new to them, providing humanitarian aid and support to regain a safe place to stay.

“Rough sleeping has definitely increased over the recent months. 10 is too many and we are committed to supporting people off the streets into accommodation working in partnership with others. Partnership working is what makes Watford unique and well equipped for the fluctuating times we live in.” – Rob Edmonds, Deputy CEO

If you’d like to find out more about Outreach Plus and how you can help people sleeping rough, please visit https://www.newhope.org.uk/outreach-plus

The report from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities is available to read here.