Examination of Witnesses (Questions 260-262)
MS JENNY
EDWARDS, MR
HOWARD SINCLAIR,
MR JEREMY
DREW AND
MR TARIG
HILAL
7 DECEMBER 2004
Q260 Mr Betts: Is not a lot of homelessness
really just what is called "sofa-surfing" where they
move around, they share a place for a bit and then they eventually
settle down somewhere? Is there really a need to get terribly
worked up about that?
Mr Hilal: To answer your question,
really we need to go to the core of what we mean by a home and
for us a home is somewhere that is permanent, secure, decent and
which a person has a right to be in, an entitlement to, and that
is the legal framework in which we operate. Now, the people that
we are talking about are not people who have any of those things
and they are certainly not people who are just moving between
homes, between university and when they get their job down in
London, but these are genuinely more vulnerable people. I say
this again, but no one who works with homeless people would be
able to tell you that this is not true. I think the real issue
is just about precisely how many there are, but we know it is
a significant number and we know they are vulnerable. Again I
can refer you to the research we did in Sheffield, Craven and
London. These are people who are sofa-surfers and the levels of
vulnerability were not dissimilar to the kind of people we see
staying in hostels and temporary accommodation.
Mr Drew: I would echo that. I
think the issue is that young people who are accessing foyers
throughout the UK, wherever they may have previously lived, come
with a range of complex needs and I think it is a simplistic view
to say, "Well, that's just what young people do". I
do not think that is the case in the people we are dealing with
who are actually homeless. There is an issue around if we have
got to count, we need to be clear about what we are counting and
why and, secondly, if we are going to do that, we need to make
sure that there is an action plan to deal with the issues that
are identified when we do the count, and that is very clear, I
think.
Q261 Mr Clelland: Some evidence suggests
that black and minority ethnic groups are over-represented among
the homeless, but is that your experience? Do they have specific
needs and could you give us some examples of the work you are
doing to address those?
Mr Sinclair: Yes, it is our experience
and yes, there is an increasing number of rough sleepers, and
the population of people in London hostels has gone up from 13%
to 35% over the past ten years. The work we are doing, my organisation
has completed a language audit and it shows that we work with
people who have 44 different first languages in London alone,
and that is just a fairly medium-sized London agency. It actually
works as more or less about getting to know the individual. It
is about individuals and individual needs and working from there
and once we start making assumptions about homeless people and
we start making assumptions about people black and minority ethnic
backgrounds, it leads us into all sorts of difficulties. We have
to work from the individual.
Mr Drew: I agree with that, that
it should always be about an individual needs-led assessment and
about meeting the needs of the individual. I think from a foyer
perspective there is some very good work that foyers do nationally
in accessing universities, and an interesting statistic only is
that we have a particular university support project that runs
where 59% of the students are from minority ethnic groups who
are accessing university through foyers, so I think it is quite
an interesting statistic.
Q262 Mr Clelland: How much of this problem
is related to immigration and asylum difficulties?
Mr Sinclair: It is and we have
done some research that shows that 20% of people living in hostels
in London are either asylum-seekers or refugees, so I think it
is a very real issue. There is also an increasing question about
people coming from EU Accession States and being seen to access
our services as well, so yes, I think there is a link.
Chairman: Well, on that note, can I thank
you very much for your evidence.
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