New figures released today (Tuesday 27th June) by the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) show a sharp rise in rough sleeping across London, with over 10,000 people recorded as sleeping on the streets of the capital in the last year- an increase of 21% compared to 2021/22.

These figures highlight the impact of the cost of living crisis, which is pushing more households to the brink. With 26% of those new to rough sleeping previously living in private rented accommodation, it’s clear that soaring rents and a growing shortage of genuinely affordable homes is forcing more people into homelessness. This is severely exacerbated by the fact that housing benefit remains frozen at 2018-19 rent levels, meaning that it completely fails to keep up with real world costs.

Other findings from the data release include:

• Of the 10,053 people recorded as sleeping rough, 6,391 were new to rough sleeping and had never been seen bedded down in London prior to this year – an increase of 26% compared with the same period last year.

• 1,578 people seen rough sleeping during the year were ‘returners’ compared to 1,205 in 2021/22, an increase of 31%.

• Nearly a third (35%) of those sleeping rough had one or more support needs, with over half (51%) of those sleeping rough having mental health needs.

Responding to the figures Matt Downie, Crisis Chief Executive, said: “These figures are incredibly tragic and should serve as a wake-up call for the Government. At this rate, there’s frankly no hope that they will hit their target of ending rough sleeping by 2024. Inflation, rising rents and a lack of good, genuinely affordable homes are forcing more and more people into desperate situations. This is the sharp end of the cost of living crisis

“The number of people forced to sleep rough in London has nearly returned to the record numbers we were seeing pre-pandemic. The ‘Everyone In’ initiative, launched in 2020, offered people sleeping on the streets a safe place to stay. To see such progress undone is frustrating beyond belief.

“No one should have to endure the brutality of life on the streets – through our services we hear from people who have been threatened, attacked and abused. Rough sleeping has a profound impact upon people’s physical and mental health. What’s worse, with housing costs skyrocketing across the country, these numbers will only continue to rise unless we see action taken.

“We need the Government to urgently invest in housing benefit, deliver the genuinely affordable homes we desperately need and fund support services to ensure we can end people’s homelessness for good. Only by addressing the root causes driving people into homelessness in the first place, can we ensure that no-one has to face life on the streets.”

-Ends-

Notes to Editor

The latest CHAIN reports can be found here: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports

• A total of 10,053 people were seen rough sleeping in London during 2022/23 - a 21% increase compared to the total of 8,329 people seen in 2021/22

• There has been a 26% increase in new rough sleepers who had never been seen bedded down in London prior to this year. In 2022/23, 6,391 were new rough sleepers (also referred to as ‘flow’)

• Of the new people rough sleeping, who previously had previously settled accommodation, 26% reported the PRS as last settled base.

• The PRS is now the leading previous form of settled accommodation for new rough sleepers unlike in the previous year when it was 23% of new rough sleepers last settled base and was the second most common form of previous settled accommodation.*

*This is drawn from CHAIN’s legacy recording methods and enables comparison to previous years of data.