Council tries to find total of 'sofa surfers'

Hundreds of people could be left 'sofa surfing' in Staffordshire because of a shortage of housing.

Sofa surfing is where homeless people live with friends and families, moving from one house to another without a place of their own.

Typically they are single people who are young and have recently left their parents' home. A recent report by homeless charity Crisis revealed 72 per cent of homeless people had 'sofa surfed' at some point. The Cannock Chase Council area is already in the grip of a housing shortage.

The council has seen the number of people on its waiting list steadily increase as the recession deepens.

Bosses at the district council have admitted they are worried about the problem and because of the nature of sofa surfing admit they have no real idea of how many people could be affected.

Sofa surfing is often described as hidden homelessness with one in three being found to have mental health problems, one in four have a drug addiction and one in five have had problems with alcohol dependency. Very few sofa surfers seek help or advice.

Now housing officers in Cannock are carrying a study to try to identify how many sofa surfers there are in the district.

Council spokesman Jamie Summerfield said: "We are aware there are a number of single people in the district who are staying with family and friends while seeking their own accommodation so-called 'sofa surfers'.

"Numbers are difficult to ascertain because of the transient nature of this type of housing need.

"The council provides housing options advice to anyone in housing need and suggests and provides services.

"This is a successful service which helped 60 single people and families in the last 12 months.

"The council is concerned to identify the scale of the 'sofa surfer' type of housing need and has recently started to gather its own information.

"It is working with the county council's Supporting People programme and other interested parties to assess the scale and type of housing needs faced by homeless people.

"Once this information is available the council and its partners can consider what, if any, action is required."