Parramatta’s Homeless Street Count
Parramatta City Councillor Scott Lloyd was joined by Lord Mayor Clr John Chedid and over 90 volunteers in the second Homeless street count.
Parramatta’s second Homeless Street Count was conducted on the night of Monday 7th February, 2011 and into the early hours of Tuesday 8th February between 12.30am and 2.30am. The aim of the count is to collect accurate data on the number of people sleeping rough in the Parramatta Local Government Area (LGA) in order to measure progress towards the reduction of homelessness.
The results of the 2010 count identified a total of 366 homeless residents, comprising of 81 rough sleepers (primary homelessness) and 285 sleeping in emergency and crisis accommodation (secondary homelessness).
The results of this count are in the process of being calculated but Councillor Lloyd was surprised to find no rough sleepers in his two sections. Councillor Lloyd said “it was a lovely night and I was expected to see rough sleepers in several locations.” “I think the hot weather last week was a factor with some homeless leaving Parramatta looking for a cool place to sleep in Sydney.”
Parramatta City Council will use the data collected from the Street Count for the benefit of people who are homeless in the Parramatta local government area. Results will be used to inform appropriate responses to homelessness and to monitor the effectiveness of these responses. All information collected will be non‐identifying and locations of rough sleepers will not be publicly released, except where agencies are required to respond to the needs and best interests of the rough sleepers.
