Recent successes in Dundee’s battle with homelessness may be down to misleading statistics, according to a charity.
Mike Cordiner from Eagles Wings Trust said he is “very suspicious” about a Dundee City Council claim that, since 2008, homelessness applications in the city have dropped by 46%, compared with a national average reduction of 36%.
He claimed the fact the council’s homeless centre had moved out of the city centre has had an adverse impact.
“I think that (the council’s statement) is a wide claim, it certainly isn’t what we see reflected on the streets,” he said.
“I know there are a lot of invisible homeless people, some that we see who have been sofa surfing for as much as a year, who can’t access services because they’ve never presented themselves.
“Also I know some of the people we deal with haven’t presented themselves at the centre because it moved. It used to be in the city centre and now is all the way out at West Pitkerro Road.”
The council yesterday revealed it has not had to utilise bed and breakfast accommodation to house homeless people for more than two years but Mr Cordiner said the number of rough sleepers in Dundee seems to have remained “pretty steady”.
“There are different kinds of homelessness,” he said.
“Very few people sleep rough and not everyone has problems with drink and drugs. Some have fallen foul of benefit sanctions while others have problems in business or other things.
“The council do a lot of good work but I think moving that centre up to West Pitkerro has not done anything to help the accessibility of services.”
Dave Morris, from the Trussell Trust foodbank, confirmed that the number of homelessness referrals they receive has remained steady at about 5% of their total intake.
Council housing committee convener John Alexander said: “We took a decision to refocus our efforts in the homelessness service towards prevention rather than crisis management.
“In addition, a number of support and accommodation services have been developed in partnership with the voluntary sector that have also have contributed to the sustained year-on-year reduction in applications.”
“It was disappointing to see that the latest figures from the Scottish Government show a 3% fall in applications across Scotland against a 6% rise in Dundee but it is worth noting that 13 councils have reported a rise in homelessness applications, increasing by up to 68% in some areas.”
Mr Alexander said projections indicated Dundee will end 2014/15 with an increase of just 3% in applications.
He added: “I am confident that recent changes we have introduced to delivering housing options services will result in the early identification of people at risk of homelessness.”