Rough sleeping drops by nearly a quarter compared to year before, according to City Hall
By Joe Talora, Local Democracy Reporter
The number of people sleeping rough in London has fallen by 24 per cent compared to last year.
A total of 8,329 people were seen sleeping rough by outreach workers during the 2021/22 financial year, down from 11,018 the previous year.
Of those seen sleeping rough in 2021/22, 70 per cent were assessed as having a support need, while 50 per cent needed mental health assistance.
The latest quarterly report from the City Hall-commissioned Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) found that, while the vast majority of those sleeping rough were UK nationals, 22 per cent were from Central and Eastern Europe including 14 per cent from Romania.
Between January and March 2022, a total of 2,714 people were seen sleeping rough in London, 928 of them in outer London boroughs. Westminster was the borough that saw the greatest number of rough sleepers in this period with 618, an increase of 30 on the previous period.Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said it was “encouraging” that fewer people were sleeping rough on London’s streets, but that “there is more work to do to end this crisis”.
He said: “Ministers now must step up their support to combat the cost-of-living crisis which threatens to reverse these hard-won gains. “I also urge them to fund the services and social security system that people sleeping rough need, reform the private rented sector and invest in new council and genuinely affordable homes to help prevent Londoners becoming homeless in the first place.”
Picture top: the number of rough sleepers in the capital has dropped Picture: Flickr/Images Alight
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