The number of people rough sleeping in England has increased by a fifth in a year, according to new government figures.
In autumn last year, 4,667 people were estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night, an increase of 770 people on the year before.
The figure is well over double the number of people estimated to have been sleeping rough in 2010 when records began.
The chief executive of Homeless Link, Rick Henderson, said: ‘It is beyond devastating and shameful that our society has allowed thousands upon thousands of people to face the trauma of sleeping rough across this country.’
He added: ‘We can see the causes of homelessness wherever we look.
‘A welfare system unfit for purpose, an acute shortage of truly affordable housing, extremely over-stretched homelessness, health and social care services and a disconnect between government policies – from hospitals and prisons discharging people onto the streets to people leaving the asylum system with nowhere to live.
‘This must end here. The Labour Government must do what its predecessor failed to – to put the right funding and support in place to prevent and end homelessness for good.’
