HUNDREDS of Islanders sought assistance from homeless accommodation and service providers in the second quarter of this year, according to a new report by the Housing Minister.
Deputy Sam Mézec’s Homelessness in Jersey report, which was published ahead of World Homeless Day today, draws together data from several organisations providing support to vulnerable Islanders.
The document was released one day after the chair of the Jersey Homelessness Strategic Board, Simon Burgess, stressed the need for “good and timely information” in developing policies to tackle the problem.
According to the data, collected from FREEDA, the Housing Advice Service, the Sanctuary Trust and the Shelter Trust, there were 220 “service visits” by 204 Islanders to homeless accommodation and service providers in the second quarter of this year.
Of those, 180 people were classed as being “houseless”, meaning they have a temporary place to sleep, such as institutional or shelter accommodation.
Fewer than five people were classed as being “roofless”, which includes those sleeping rough.
Three-quarters of Islanders recorded as homeless were men and 61% were unemployed.
Commenting on the report’s publication, Deputy Mézec said the data would be updated every quarter.
“For a number of years, there has been a lack of meaningful data available regarding the situation in Jersey regarding homelessness.
“This has made it hard to fully and accurately understand the scale and nature of the issue in Jersey,” he explained.
“The creation and implementation of this first homelessness report brings together data from different organisations in the Island who support Islanders who are in situations concerning homelessness.
“The reporting of this data will provide a deeper understanding of the level of demand on different providers and how they respond to the issue of homelessness.
“It also gives us a better understanding of the service-user’s journey and their engagement with the organisation they are in contact with and what their outcomes are.”
Deputy Mézec added: “I am deeply grateful to the agencies who have taken time to work with my team to provide data, which allow us all to develop a broader, richer, deeper understanding of this issue so that informed and useful policy can be created to tackle the issues surrounding homelessness.
“It is, however, always important to remember that behind the statistics there are many individual stories, and we must always remember the very human nature of this issue.”
