THE chief executive of a homeless charity has warned Government figures indicating a drop in homelessness in Southend should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Harp boss Jackie Bliss shared her thoughts on the latest rough sleeper figures announced by the Government at the end of January through the homeless charity’s blog.

The encouraging figures showed an 85 per cent drop in rough sleepers, with just 11 being seen compared to an expected 72.

But Mrs Bliss fears the number is not an accurate representation, with the figures being taken from just one night.

She said: “On the morning of November 23rd 2018, between midnight and 5am, representatives from Southend Borough Council, HARP and other local agencies ventured out into Southend to well-known rough sleeping spots.

“Between the agencies, there is a lot of shared intelligence on these “hot spots”, which include secluded areas away from the town centre.

“That night, having searched the area pretty exhaustively, nine people could be found bedded down. Another two were also known to be sleeping rough but could not be found, so they were added to the count making the final official figure 11.

“This was significantly down from the 72 which had been estimated in the autumn of 2017.

“Rough sleeping is the sharp edge of homelessness, and we are only too aware that this represents only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to total numbers of people who are actually homeless.

“So a reduction in people found to be sleeping rough doesn’t, in itself, mean that the underlying number of people lacking appropriate housing has also fallen, or that Southend’s homelessness problem has been solved.

“However, there can be no doubt that it is a positive step forward to see far fewer people risking illness and death by actually sleeping in our streets and parks, or on our beaches.”

Harp have acknowledged there is no way to know if that figures is accurate, but are confident the number of people sleeping rough in Southend has dropped significantly since the 2017 estimate of 72.

Mrs Bliss praised the introduction of a number of services throughout 2018, including Off The Streets, with their nine bed shelter, and Harp’s own extended Bradbury Centre.

Harp has also launched an outreach service in a bid to engage with people on the streets directly alongside other specialist agencies in Southend.

The work of these agencies and shelters is effectively taking people off streets, but people staying in temporary accommodation are not included in the total.

Mrs Bliss added: “So, although it’s true that “only” 11 people were counted that night in November, we are all too aware that there were, in addition, a large number of people in temporary, unstable or makeshift accommodation on that night.

“And on top of those, lots more were accommodated with us or in other hostels, taking those all important steps to try to overcome the causes of their homelessness. Getting people into temporary accommodation is just the start of the journey away from homelessness - once people are housed, the real work can start.

“Clearly, these people still need our,, support, help and compassion. In the calendar year 2018, over 1,200 local people came to HARP because they were homeless or at risk of homelessness. This demonstrates that many, many local people are still struggling to keep a roof over their heads.

“It is also worth bearing in mind that HARP only works with single homeless people, not with families, so we aren’t able to comment on levels of homelessness affecting families in Southend.

“In summary, therefore, the lack of affordable housing combined with low levels of wages prevalent in jobs based in Southend - together with other issues which contribute to homelessness such as inadequate resources to deal with mental health problems before they escalate - these issues are not solved simply because of a fall in the number of people sleeping rough.

“So we believe this improvement in the numbers recorded last November is cause for muted optimism, but not yet celebration.

“We are far from out of the woods, and many more people will need support as the housing crisis deepens.”