Rough Sleeping Numbers Down in Bedford Borough Again

Liberal Democrat Cllr Tim Caswell has thanked the Council and all partner agencies for their work in contributing to a 41% reduction in the number of rough sleepers in Bedford Borough.

Cllr Caswell made the comments at this week's Housing Committee meeting where a report confirmed that there were 30 individuals sleeping rough in Bedford Borough in 2019, down from 76 in 2017 and 51 in 2018.

Commenting, Cllr Caswell said "This major fall in the number of rough sleepers is hugely welcome and shows how much work the Council and partners have done and continue to do to tackle rough sleeping.'

"Of course, one person sleeping rough is one too many and the task now is getting that figure down further. 22 of the 30 people sleeping rough are European Economic Area nationals and have 'no recourse to public funds' so are therefore more difficult to help. However there is some work undertaken by the Kings Arms Project specifically to help those people and of course the emergency beds and severe weather provision are available to all regardless of country of origin".

The full Housing Committee report on Rough Sleeping in Bedford Borough is available at Item 6 on the agenda here.