National homelessness charity urges Westminster Government and
Greater London Authority to allocate funds to ‘Housing First'
initiatives and build on recent social and affordable housing
investment
New figures from the Combined Homelessness and Information
Network (CHAIN) today show that the number of people ‘living on
the streets' in London from April 2024 to March 2025 was 3,028 –
a 27% rise on the same period a year before. The data also shows:
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Compared to 10 years ago (April 2014-March 2015), the total
number of people living on the streets has increased 90%,
from 1,595 to 3,028.
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Overall, the number of people forced to sleep rough in London
from April 2024 to March 2025 was 13,231 – a 10% rise from
the same period the year before.
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The number of people sleeping rough for the first time in
London between April 2024 and March 2025 was 8,396, up 5%
compared to the same time the year before.
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For more than 1 in 5 (23%) new people rough sleeping, their
last settled home was private rented accommodation before
being on the streets.
People are forced to sleep rough, and to remain on the streets,
for many reasons. These include rising rents, benefits falling
short of housing costs and gaps in support services for mental
health and domestic abuse.
A wider and urgent lack of social and affordable housing in
England underpins the challenges faced by people forced into
homelessness, and the councils with a responsibility to house
them. In 2023/24, over 320,000 households in England faced
homelessness – the highest on record. In the past ten years,
there has been a net loss of 180,067 social
homesin England, with 1.3 million households in England
stuck on waiting lists for a social home.
Crisis has been calling for an additional 90,000 social rented
homes to be built every year, as well as greater UK Government
funding for homelessness prevention and support, and has welcomed
recent announcements of investment. In the Comprehensive Spending
Review, the Westminster Government pledged £39bn for social and
affordable housing over the next 10 years. The UK Government has
announced £100 million for homelessness prevention between
2026-27 and 2029-30, while indicating that existing funding for
homelessness support has been protected. Ministers have also
provided an extra £950 million to fund temporary accommodation.
Responding to today's figures, Matt Downie, Chief
Executive at Crisis, said:
“These figures demonstrate a tragic failure at all levels to help
people out of extreme poverty and away from the streets. No one
should be forced to sleep or live on the streets because they
have nowhere else to go.
“It's vital that we capitalise on the very welcome momentum
provided by recent funding announcements for social and
affordable housing and for homelessness prevention, as well as
the Mayor's rough sleeping action plan. UK Ministers need to come
forward with a clear plan for this funding, prioritising new
homes for social rent and a national rollout of Housing First. We
also urge the government to bring housing benefit back in line
with the true cost of local rents, enabling people to find and
keep a home.
“As rough sleeping poses almost constant threats and danger, we
need to make sure people can access the support and housing they
need to move away from the streets, or never reach the streets in
the first place.”
- ENDS -
Notes to Editor
About CHAIN
Today, Monday 30 June 2025, the Combined Homelessness and
Information Network (CHAIN) statistics have been published,
showing levels of rough sleeping across London for the period
April 2024 to March 2025.
Conducted by outreach teams in regular contact with people on the
streets, CHAIN is considered the most thorough approach to
collecting data on people sleeping rough.
Read and download the latest CHAIN figures here: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports
Greater London Authority's plan for tackling rough
sleeping
The Mayor of London has committed to working with the Westminster
Government to set London on a course to end rough sleeping by
2030. A new Rough Sleeping Plan of Action will set the framework
for achieving this goal.
Read more about the Plan of Action here.
