Rough sleeping in London up 23% to highest level in a decade

Rough sleeping in London is at its highest level in a decade, prompting warnings of a “humanitarian crisis” that is expected to get worse.

In a 23% year-on-year increase for the fourth quarter of 2023, 4,389 people were counted sleeping on London’s streets – the most since city hall started recording figures in 2014. More than half were sleeping rough for the first time. Homelessness charities called the numbers “devastating”.

The government, in its 2019 election manifesto, promised to end rough sleeping by the end of this parliament. One in five of those helped to get inside during the Greater London Authority’s cold weather initiative this month were refugees who had recently left Home Office accommodation. Government rules give newly recognised refugees just 28 days to move on.

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, accused ministers of “turning a blind eye to the scale of this national crisis” and said the “hostile approach to refugees has meant that hundreds of people are becoming homeless or sleeping rough on our streets”.

Matt Downie, the chief executive of Crisis, issued a reminder of the cruelty rough sleepers faced, saying: “Nine in 10 people experience violence or abuse, with many having had bricks or bottles thrown at them, while others had been urinated on.”

The London boroughs with the most rough sleepers were Westminster, Camden and Ealing, according to the latest figures; 40% of those counted were from the UK and the rest from Europe (24%), Africa (15%), Asia (10%), and elsewhere and not known (11%).

Fiona Colley, the director of social change at Homeless Link, a coalition of charities, said: “The woeful shortage of affordable homes and rocketing rents in the city are not giving people a fighting chance. This is a disaster that must be addressed immediately. We are calling on Jeremy Hunt to use the spring budget to safeguard homelessness support by ensuring services are fully funded.”

Support services, meanwhile, reported an increase in demand in January, since the record figures were gathered.

“Our deep concern here is that we have not reached the peak of this crisis,” said John Glenton, executive director of care and support at Riverside, a housing charity.

Related: ‘We’re going to see people dying on the streets’: homeless refugee crisis grips Liverpool

Emma Haddad, the chief executive of St Mungo’s, a charity helping rough sleepers in London, said its outreach teams had been inundated with new people sleeping on the streets and called for emergency support to help people find housing and a pause on evictions from Home Office asylum accommodationduring severe weather.

“The shortage of affordable and appropriate housing is leaving far too many people vulnerable,” she said.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has been approached for comment.