Homelessness Bulletin Background Report

Introduction

This publication has been developed by the Department for Communities (DfC), the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) and Analytics Division (AD) within DfC. It presents a biannual summary of homelessness statistics in Northern Ireland and is currently divided into three sections: Homeless presenters; Homeless acceptances; and Temporary accommodation.

Homelessness figures presented in this report can be read in conjunction with those published in the quarterly Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin.

Statistics on homelessness are sourced from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE). Under the Housing (NI) Order 1988, NIHE has a statutory responsibility to secure permanent accommodation for persons who are unintentionally homeless and in priority need, to secure temporary accommodation in a variety of circumstances and to provide advice and assistance to those who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. For further details see:

The Housing Executive - Are you homeless?

Information on the NIHE Homelessness Strategy can be found at the following link:

The Housing Executive - Homelessness Strategy

The Housing Executive collects information on presenters and statutorily homeless households for administrative purposes. This data is then used to generate the tables for this publication. The data is transferred in aggregated form to AD, who are then responsible for analysis and the production of the publication. A procedures manual and checklist of the process involved is retained internally for contingency, consistency and quality purposes.

The main summary document is published alongside supplementary tables and this quality background report on the DfC website. DfC Press Office will further publicise the report as appropriate. A mailing list will be developed based on user feedback and interest.

The quality information presented below relates to all tables. However, additional quality information is also provided for some specific tables and this is clearly noted as such.

Relevance

Data is recorded by the Housing Executive in its Housing Management System (HMS), on a daily basis.

The information provided in the tables allows users to assess the level of homelessness in Northern Ireland, the reason for homelessness and those affected. Users include the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland (DfC) and other government departments, the Housing Executive, elected representatives, councils, agencies, charities, voluntary sector organisations and the private sector.

Users are actively encouraged to provide feedback; additional information requirements will be considered for inclusion in future iterations, where possible.

DfC produce an annual Housing Statistics series and a quarterly Housing Bulletin, both of which include, among other housing themed figures, statistics on homelessness sourced to NIHE HMS. These publications can be found at:

Housing Statistics - Department for Communities

Accuracy

Reports on the status of homelessness presentations are extracted from the Housing Management System for specified date parameters by the Housing Executive’s data analytics. The Housing Executive acknowledges that some errors may occur due to the inputting of incorrect data, but carefully checks all data that are to be published, to provide a high level of quality assurance. Users should be aware that figures are extracted from a live database on a specific date and as such could be revised at a later date.

The collection purpose of this data is to allow the Housing Executive to meet its statutory duties in relation to homelessness. This requires data to be thorough and robust enough for operational use. A range of internal checks and audits are in place within local offices to ensure quality data, including the use of dashboards and a homelessness suite of exception reports which are designed to pick up anomalies in data input. Cross checks between internal reports are undertaken centrally. An end of year data base of all homelessness presentations is downloaded to confirm annual statistical accuracy.

NIHE forwards aggregated data on homelessness to AD, at which point, further checks are carried out by way of trend analysis, row and column cross checking against totals and sub-totals, identification of anomalies and checks for cell completeness. AD follow a procedures manual which stipulates checks at numerous levels of management.

Timeliness and Punctuality

Homelessness statistics are published biannually in the Northern Ireland Homelessness Bulletin, approximately 3 months after the reporting period has finished. This 3 month lag allows the Housing Executive to extract data normally 2 weeks after the period end to ensure all outstanding keying has been completed and to carry out the necessary cross checks. It provides time to carry out trend analysis and to identify and investigate any anomalies that may occur through consultation with local staff. For example, a flood may cause a temporary spike in homelessness in a particular area which would not be reflective of a normal trend and would require additional explanation.

AD will typically place a formal request to NIHE for the homelessness data necessary to populate the report 6 weeks prior to publication date. NIHE forward the data to AD within 2 weeks of it being requested.

AD also require time to undergo the analysis, create the report, quality assure it and carry out the publication process.

To date, all publications have been delivered on time, based on the scheduled release dates.

Accessibility and Clarity

This biannual publication is available in html format on the DFC website. Supporting tables are published alongside the main document in open source format. Requests for the information in different formats can be made by contacting the Department for Communities. Supporting and/or additional information may be available on request from the Housing Executive.

Having a summary document with infographics, case studies, and information points explaining certain terminology/processes allows all audiences to gather and understand high level information about homelessness in Northern Ireland. Additional information is footnoted or signposted clearly within the summary report as appropriate.

Accompanying tables and methodological information provide technical users with an opportunity to examine findings in greater detail and perform their own analysis if they wish.
Users are invited to complete an online user feedback survey; a link is provided in the introductory page of the summary report and on the Departmental webpage that hosts the publication.

Coherence and Comparability

Dynamic Data

As of April 2018 the Housing Executive has moved to a new reporting system. Data which was reported in AD housing publications (Northern Ireland Housing Statistics and The Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin) prior to this date was point in time data.

The new reporting system extracts data from the live system. The data is dynamic and reflects the changing nature of the customer journey as it happens.

All categories may be subject to change and adjustment as each quarter’s report is downloaded. For example, a case may initially be rejected in Quarter 1, however, upon review the original decision may be overturned and the household subsequently accepted. As a result, when Quarter 2 data is presented, Quarter 1 will now have an additional accepted case. Cases may be concluded due to loss of contact with a household and reopened where the household re-establishes contact.

Presenting Reason/Established Reason

It should be noted that in 2017/18 an additional “presenting reason” field was included in the recording of homelessness cases. Previously, cases were recorded by established reason which was input following investigations. Historically, this resulted in many “no data” presenting cases where the case was not accepted. The addition of the “presenting reason” field has eliminated most “no data” cases.

The implication of this is that following investigations, a household may be accepted as homeless for a different reason than their initial presenting reason. In some cases this may result in higher level of acceptances than presentations in any category.

UK Homelessness Statistics

Homelessness data from other parts of the UK can be accessed using the following links:

Homelessness definitions and measurements differ across the UK. Users should be aware that statistics from the above publications are not directly comparable with Northern Ireland Homelessness Statistics. The following report investigates the feasibility of harmonising UK definitions of homelessness, and evaluates methods for improving users’ understanding of the comparability of UK homelessness statistics

In addition, the Homelessness in the UK: 2004 to 2024 report summarises the trends in homelessness statistics across the four UK countries and the cross-UK comparability of the data.