April 2024 – Glasgow Rough Sleeping Count 

Friday 5th April – 12 midnight until 3am

In the early hours of Friday 5th April, in heavy rain, 7 staff from SCS and 26 volunteers from a variety of partnerships across the city took part in our latest rough sleepers count. 

Volunteers were made up of support from 11 partner agencies including – HSPC Homeless Casework, HSPC Out of Hours, Glasgow City Mission, Police Scotland, NHS/HSCP – City Centre Outreach, Help the Homeless Glasgow, The Marie Trust, Lodging House Mission, The Halliday Foundation, The Invisibles, and Shelter Scotland.

Our Glasgow Street Team is out 7-days a week, working from 7am through to 11pm. However, we conduct an overnight count at least twice a year. It takes knowledge and careful planning. We ensure that people with lived and living experience are involved to ensure that, along with our street team and partners knowledge, we are informed about; where we search, how to respect people’s privacy and most importantly – what not to do.

All staff and volunteers received a health and safety briefing and were provided with emergency contact numbers and split into groups.  3 staff members stayed in the office with the teams calling in every 20/30 minutes to provide updates on their whereabouts, what streets/areas had been covered and recording any findings. All teams had one staff member trained in Naloxone and as such, every team had a kit with them, they were also provided with a torch and map of areas to cover.

During the course of the count we identified 29 people rough sleeping in the city. 

As in previous counts, there was evidence of some begging activity where sleeping bags and mats were stored for the following day. Some injecting sites were also identified for teams to follow up. 

Our teams covered the city centre, west end, east end, southside and the north of the city.

We engage regularly with local police and HSCP Neighbourhoods and Sustainability and local housing associations to discuss rough sleeping in their areas. This is mainly focussed on closes and bin sheds. No recent intelligence about specific bin sheds etc to target on the night.

Accuracy of Count

There is always the likelihood that we would not find everyone as some people make great efforts to be undetected. Similarly, there is a possibility that people might be in more remote locations outside the city centre, some of which may be in parks and cemeteries, although we have had no reported sightings.  

Friday mornings count was in line with figures our Glasgow Street Team have been reporting. We welcome the support of all partnership agencies that were able to join us.

Simon Community Scotland – Glasgow city centre support

Our Glasgow Street Team work 7-days per week from 7am-11pm, building relationships and trust with people who are rough sleeping, or at risk of rough sleeping in the city. This includes people who regularly beg in Glasgow and people who are staying in B&Bs, hostels and hotels in the city centre.

Our Access Hub, located at 389 Argyle Street, Glasgow G2 8LR,  is open 7-days a week from 9am-5pm (10am start on Wednesday for staff training) and is a safe place, providing information, care, advice and support.

Our Glasgow Helpline 0800 027 7466 is available 24-hours a day for people to access information, or for members of the public to alert us to people they are concerned about.

What we are doing and how you can help

Every day, we are working extremely hard to support people who are rough sleeping into somewhere safe and dry. That is our ultimate aim.  One week, at the end of March, our street and hub teams prevented 37 people from rough sleeping.

We engage with people on the streets on a daily basis; performing wellbeing checks, working to build trust, reduce the risk of harm and trying to link people into the support they need. If possible, we get people along to our Argyle Street Access Hub for warmth and extra support. 

Provisions, jackets, clothes and sleeping bags are essential items that we are handing out every day. Due to the horrendous weather, we are regularly having to hand out new, dry sleeping bags. 

If you are in a position to donate to our safe places and support for people experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping, then please visit our website www.simonscotland.org 

By Elaine Barrett, Service Lead, RSVP Street Team