Rough sleeping has risen in London over the past year

The Combined Homelessness and Information Network has found that rough sleeping has risen in London over the past year, despite the government pledging to house everyone during the pandemic.

Data shows that 11,018 people were seen rough sleeping in the capital during 2020-21, marking a three per cent increase on the previous year. The Combined Homelessness and Information Network also reports that there has been a seven per cent in people sleeping on the streets for the first time, with the figure now standing at 7,531.

The Everyone In programme, introduced last March, required all councils to place people who were sleeping rough into emergency housing such as hotels, and thousands were housed as a result.

However, campaigners are now warning that the increase suggests the commitments made at the start of the pandemic have ‘fallen away’ and that progress to house people is now ‘in imminent danger of being lost’. In fact, 2,126 people seen sleeping rough this year having also been seen in 2019-20.

Jon Sparkes, the chief executive of Crisis, said: “There is nothing inevitable about this. Last year we saw brilliant but short-lived measures that dramatically reduced the numbers of people sleeping rough.”