The final year of a Conservative government that pledged to end rough sleeping saw a record number of people sleeping on the streets of London.
More than 11,990 people were seen sleeping rough in the capital between April 2023 and March 2024, a 19% increase on the previous year, according to the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) database.
It was the first year in which more than 2,000 people were recorded rough sleeping on CHAIN in a single month.
Of new rough sleepers in 2023-24 whose last settled base was known, 17% had been staying in asylum support accommodation.
At the end of the previous year, this figure was just 4%.
A CHAIN report notes it is likely that the increase was related to changes made by the Home Office, including a new ‘streamlined asylum processing system’, and the reduction of the ‘notice to quit’ period for newly recognised refugees from 28 to seven days.
The second most common cause of departure from a previous settled base for new rough sleepers was being granted asylum and having to leave Home Office accommodation.
It was the case for 15.4% of people sleeping rough for the first time in 2023-24, compared to 15.7% who slept on the streets for the first time following relationship breakdown.
Homeless Link CEO Rick Henderson said: ‘The appalling rise in rough sleeping in London over the past year clearly shows that the next government must act decisively to address this crisis, both in the capital and across the country.’
