THE number of people sleeping rough in Brighton and Hove is creeping back up again, according to official figures.

A count carried out on a night in September found 39 people sleeping rough, according to Brighton and Hove City Council, up from 28 in July.

Numbers had fallen since the government’s “everyone in” policy was brought in at the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

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The council published the latest figures in a draft housing performance report for the second quarter of 2021-22. The report was shared at housing panel meetings this month.

The figures are relatively low by historic standards in Brighton and Hove but not show the real picture, according to homelessness campaigner Jim Deans.

Mr Deans, who runs Sussex Homeless Support CIC, believes that more than 100 people are sleeping rough locally, with even more living in squats or sofa surfing.

He said: “We’re seeing more women on the streets than ever and we’re seeing refugees on the street.

“They are not begging on the streets. They are attending food stations and street kitchens and even some of the food banks that don’t make the referral process.”

Mr Deans said that last week his team helped a woman with a 25-day-old baby which he said was “a whole different level”.

Since the “everyone in” policy almost cleared the streets of rough sleepers overnight, the council has been trying to provide longer-term housing for those who were sleeping rough or in shelter dormitories.

But the council said that it no longer ran its traditional night shelter because hostel-style shared accommodation was not recommended because of the pandemic – to try to limit the spread of covid-19.

At a council meeting last week, Green councillor David Gibson said that more than 800 people were accommodated during the pandemic, with 730 moving on to long-term accommodation.

Labour councillor Gill Williams said that more people were losing their homes now that the ban on evictions had ended.

She said: “The lifting of the ban on evictions is a major contributing factor in the rise of homelessness and this is undoubtedly exacerbated by the lack of secure affordable housing in the city.

“To stem the rise of homelessness, the government must halt the right to buy and invest in a substantial social housing building programme. This is the only long-term remedy to homelessness and rough sleeping.”

Conservative councillor Mary Mears said that the council had received more than £21 million from the government to support the homeless but rough sleeping remained an issue.

She said that she had tried to bring a motion to the last two meetings of the full council calling for an audit on how the council had spent the government grants.

But on both occasions, Councillor Mears said, the meetings were cancelled. She added: “There is clearly a cohort of rough sleepers that have remained on the streets throughout the pandemic, despite the council’s offer of accommodation being offered to all rough sleepers for over a year.

“The council needs to be clear-eyed about the reasons for this.

“We know that Andy Winter from BHT Sussex (formerly Brighton Housing Trust) has said that begging on the streets of Brighton has nothing to do with homelessness and everything to do with addiction – and continuing to allow it in the city does not help anyone.

“The aggressive begging going on in some parts of the city centre is off-putting to many elderly and female residents.”

Councillor Mears said that signing up to the Homeless Bill of Rights had encouraged rough sleeping and begging in Brighton and Hove.