London’s rough sleep rates hit record highs

New data shows rough sleeping in London has reached a record high.

A total of 11,993 people fell asleep in the capital over the year to March, according to the latest statistics from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain).

It is the highest figure ever recorded in the database in a single year.

Homeless Link, the membership organization for frontline homeless services in England, called the rise “appalling” and urged the next government to “act decisively to tackle this crisis”.

The total number of people experiencing sleep problems in the year to March was up 58% compared to the 7,581 people experiencing sleep problems ten years ago, in 2014-2015.

Nearly a fifth (17%) of new rough sleepers who had information recorded about their last established base previously stayed in asylum support accommodation, Chain said.

British nationals made up 45% of all rough sleepers in the year to March, up from 49% the year before.

Homeless Link CEO Rick Henderson said there was a “crisis both in the capital and across the country” and called on the next government to “deliver an intergovernmental plan to prevent rough sleep and homelessness” .

He added that this must be done by delivering ‘truly affordable’ housing, while ensuring there is a range of ‘well-funded’ homelessness services to tackle the root causes of rough sleeping.

The Conservative manifesto pledges to press ahead with plans to end homelessness ‘and prevent people from ending up on the streets in the first place, after significant progress has been made in recent years’.

Labor said in its manifesto that it would “develop a new intergovernmental strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country, to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness”.

The Liberal Democrats have also promised to end the rough sleep in the next parliament by urgently publishing a plan for Whitehall and exempting groups of homeless people from the shared housing rate.

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