Rough sleeping in London risen from last year

Admin

February 4, 2025
2 min read

Rough sleeping in London risen from last year

The amount of those rough sleeping in the capital at the end of 2024 was 5% higher compared with the previous year, the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain) said. From October to December 2024, homeless outreach organisations recorded 4,612 people who were sleeping rough in London. Half of them were deemed to have a mental health issue.

Of them, 704 were determined to be living on the streets, 26% more than the same time last year. But the amount of first-time rough sleeping had fallen by 7%.

“That the latest rough sleeping figures for London have continued to rise is incredibly concerning,” Chief executive of homeless charity St Mungo’s, Emma Haddad, said.

The figures were previously branded “shameful” by homelessness organisations. In October, local authorities reported that they were spending £4 million a day on homelessness. This included temporary accommodation.

“Behind every number is a person who has spent the night on the pavement in winter,” Haddad said. “We simply have to change the system so that people are getting help that prevents them having to sleep rough in the first place.”

This could be achieved, she said, if there is a “homelessness system focused on prevention.” It would ensure that “no one released from prison, hospital or care on to the streets, no one evicted from their accommodation because the landlord wants to double the rent and no one unable to find somewhere to live because their benefits had been frozen.”

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