Homelessness in Camden

The request was partially successful.

Dear Camden Borough Council,

I would like to make a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Could I have information on the following:

1) The number of homeless people in the Borough of Camden between 1st October 2003 and 26th October 2011. Please provide details of the situation.

2) What is Camden Council’s definition of homeless?
3) The number of temporary housing provided by Camden Council under the Homelessness Strategy 2003-2008.

4) How much money has been spent on housing the homeless in the Borough of Camden between 1st October 2003 and 26th October 2011?

5) Could you provide an electronic copy of London Borough of Camden’s Housing Strategy 2005-2010 Homelessness Action plan?

6) The number of rough sleepers in the Borough of Camden between 1st October 2003 and 26th October 2011. Please provide details of the situation.

7) What is Camden Council’s definition of a rough sleeper?

8) How many Acceptable Behaviour Agreements and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders have been issued in the Borough of Camden between 1st October 2003 and 26th October 2011. Please provide details of the situation.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Nadia Khomami

Michael Warby, Camden Borough Council

1 Attachment

Camden Council - Information request (FOI/EIR) - Central team

Our reference: 7423332

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Dear Ms. Khomami

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request received on 27
October 2011

You requested information on:

1) The number of homeless people in the Borough of Camden between 1st
October 2003 and 26th October 2011. Please provide details of the
situation.
2) What is Camden Council’s definition of homeless?
3) The number of temporary housing provided by Camden Council under the
Homelessness Strategy 2003-2008.
4) How much money has been spent on housing the homeless in the Borough of
Camden between 1st October 2003 and 26th October 2011?
5) Could you provide an electronic copy of London Borough of Camden’s
Housing Strategy 2005-2010 Homelessness Action plan?
6) The number of rough sleepers in the Borough of Camden between 1st
October 2003 and 26th October 2011. Please provide details of the
situation.
7) What is Camden Council’s definition of a rough sleeper?
8) How many Acceptable Behaviour Agreements and Anti-Social Behaviour
Orders have been issued in the Borough of Camden between 1st October 2003
and 26th October 2011. Please provide details of the situation.

Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days.

If appropriate, the information may be provided in paper copy, normal font
size. If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio, large
print, etc. then please let me know.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent release of the information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then it will not
be released. You will be informed if this is the case.

If the information you request was obtained from or relates to a third
party then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on
whether or not to release the information to you.

In some cases there may a fee payable for the information requested. This
will be considered and you will be informed of the fee payable if this is
the case. In this event the fee must be paid before the information is
processed and released. The 20 day time limit for responses is put on hold
until receipt of the payment.

If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact me.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

Yours sincerely

Michael Warby
Access to Information Officer - FOI & DPA

Email: [email address]
Phone: 020 7974 7857

Michael Warby, Camden Borough Council

3 Attachments

 

Camden Council - Information request (FOI/EIR) - Central team

Our reference: 7423332

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Ms. Khomami,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST
 
Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request received on
 27^th October 2011,concerning the following information:
 
1) The number of homeless people in the Borough of Camden between 1st
October 2003 and 26th October 2011. Please provide details of the
situation.
2) What is Camden Councilâ  s definition of homeless?
3) The number of temporary housing provided by Camden Council under the
Homelessness Strategy 2003-2008.
4) How much money has been spent on housing the homeless in the Borough of
Camden between 1st October 2003 and 26th October 2011?
5) Could you provide an electronic copy of London Borough of
Camdenâ  s Housing Strategy 2005-2010 Homelessness Action plan?
6) The number of rough sleepers in the Borough of Camden between 1st
October 2003 and 26th October 2011. Please provide details of the
situation.
7) What is Camden Councilâ  s definition of a rough sleeper?
8) How many Acceptable Behaviour Agreements and Anti-Social Behaviour
Orders have been issued in the Borough of Camden between 1st October 2003
and 26th October 2011. Please provide details of the situation.
 
Your request has now been considered and we are unable to provide you with
the information you have requested for question 1, as this information is
not recorded in manner that makes it possible for the information to be
provided without all records being checked manually, which would equate to
more than the 18 hour limit set by the act as we would need to check over
3000 records.
 
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as
a partial Refusal Notice.
 
Under section 12 of the Act, the Council is not obliged to comply with a
request for information if the authority estimates that the costs of
complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.
 
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and
Fees) Regulations 2004 has set the appropriate limit as £450 based on a
charge at £25 per hour.
 
The estimated time likely to be spent by the Council on the request and
costs are as follows:
 
Determining whether the Council hold the information:
 
Searching the manual and electronic records of the Council to determine
whether the information is held. 
 
Time: 0 hours
 
Locating the information or documents containing the information:
 
Time: 19 hours
 
Retrieving such information or documents:
 
Retrieving all manual and electronic information held in the Council
relating to your request including archived correspondence files and
electronic records
 
Time: 19 hours
 
Extracting the information from documents and files containing it
(excluding editing or redacting information):
 
Time: 18 hours
 
Total time = 56 Hours
Total cost = £1,400
 
In the interests of transparency and assisting you in accessing
information that is relevant to your request I can inform you that we have
been in a position to ascertain the following within the time limit set by
the Act:
 
1. Although we are not in a position to provide the information that has
been requested for question 1 we can provide details of the outcomes of
the applications received during the period 1 October 2004 to 26 October
2011.
  

Part VII Decision/result Total
Homelessness prevented 42
Intentionally homeless 224
No local connection to Camden 6
Not eligible for assistance 99
Not homeless 420
Not in priority need 265
Other 46
Full duty accepted 1,936
Lost contact 102
Not concluded 35
Referral to other Local Authority 39
Withdrawn application 148
Total 3,362

 
2. Camden Council does not have a local definition of
homelessness. Homelessness is defined in statute - please see Housing Act
1996, Part VII, s175:
[1]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996....
This defines homelessness as follows:

 1. A person is homeless if he has no accommodation available for his
occupation, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, which he:

o is entitled to occupy by virtue of an interest in it or by virtue
of an order of a court,
o has an express or implied licence to occupy, or
o occupies as a residence by virtue of any enactment or rule of law
giving him the right to remain in occupation or restricting the
right of another person to recover possession.

 2. A person is also homeless if he has accommodation but:

o he cannot secure entry to it, or
o it consists of a moveable structure, vehicle or vessel designed
or adapted for human habitation and there is no place where he is
entitled or permitted both to place it and to reside in it.

 3. A person shall not be treated as having accommodation unless it is
accommodation which it would be reasonable for him to continue to
occupy.
 4. person is threatened with homelessness if it is likely that he will
become homeless within 28 days.

3. Temporary accommodation is not provided under the Homelessness Strategy
2003-2008 but in accordance with the Council’s statutory obligations -
please see Housing Act 1996, Part VII (as amended):
[2]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996...
 
According to our P1E submission for that period, as of the night of 30
September/1 October 2004 there were 2,106 households in temporary
accommodation provided under Housing Act 1996, Part VII (as amended). The
number of households in temporary accommodation provided under Housing Act
1996, Part VII (as amended) on 26 October 2011 was 644.
Between 1 October 2004 and 26 October 2011 we placed 2,846 applicant
households into temporary accommodation in pursuance of our duties under
the Act.
 
4.      In accordance with Section 1(1) (a) of the Freedom of Information
Act I am obliged to inform you that the information you requested is not
held by Camden Council in a format which is retrievable.
 
5. An exemption under Section 21 (1) of the Act is being applied.
 
Section 21; Information accessible to applicant by other means
 
This exemption applies because the information is accessible to you by
other means. The information your have requested is on London Borough of
Camden website at:
 
[3]www.camden.gov.uk/housingstrategy
 
6. Camden uses the national Street Count methodology approved by the
“Communities & Local Government” Dept. (CLG) to record figures relating to
rough sleeping.  The methodology is attached.  The results of the counts
during the time period covered by the request are as follows:

o 2003 - 10
o 2004 - 15
o 2005 - 17
o 2006 - 10
o 2007 - 6
o 2008 - 4
o 2009 - 6
o 2010 – 11
o 2011 – Count taking place next month.

 
7.Camden uses the definition of rough sleeping as set put in the GLG
methodology, please see attached.
 
8. In accordance with Section 1(1) (a) of the Freedom of Information Act I
am obliged to inform you that the information you requested is not held by
Camden Council This information is held by the Metropolitan Police
Service, details of how to request this information from them can be found
at the following URL:
 
[4]http://www.met.police.uk/foi/

Please note the information is still covered by copyright legislation. You
are not authorised to re-use this information for commercial or research
purposes as defined by the Re-Use of Public Sector Regulations 2005. If
you do wish to re-use this information please contact the Information
Access Team, Legal Services/ Second Floor, Camden Town Hall, Judd Street,
London WC1H 9JE, who will assess your request. 

You have the right of appeal against the decision. If you wish to appeal
please set out in writing your grounds of appeal (within 2 months of this
letter) and send it to: Freedom of Information Appeals Panel, Central
Complaints Unit, Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, London WC1H 9JE and your
complaint will be dealt with through our Internal Review procedure.

If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office. They can be
contacted at: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.
Telephone: 01625 545 700
[5]www.ico.gov.uk
Yours sincerely

Michael Warby
Access to Information Officer - FOI & DPA

Email: [email address]
Phone: 020 7974 7857
 
 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996...
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996...
2. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996...
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996...
3. http://www.camden.gov.uk/housingstrategy
http://www.camden.gov.uk/housingstrategy
4. http://www.met.police.uk/foi/
5. http://www.ico.gov.uk/