Whoever becomes the next Prime Minister has been told that they need to ‘break the cycle’ of rough sleeping in London as it reaches a ‘record high’. New data suggests that 11,993 people were seen sleeping on the street in the city in the year to March.
The statistic is from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN). It is the highest figure ever recorded for a single year. Londoners will go to the polls at the General Election on Thursday, July 4.
John Glenton, Executive Director of Care and Support at Riverside, said: “In a year when previous administrations had pledged to end rough sleeping it is extremely disappointing, but not surprising, to see a record high number of people sleeping rough on the streets of our capital.
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“At a time when the number of people sleeping rough should have been falling to meet this target instead, rough sleeping in London has increased by almost a fifth. It is also very important to remember that the number of people sleeping rough is sadly just the visible tip of the iceberg when it comes to homelessness.
“Nationally the number of homeless people living in temporary accommodation is more than 60 times higher than the number of people identified as sleeping rough in the annual snapshot. Sadly, we have a growing crisis in both the number of people sleeping rough in London and the number of homeless people living in temporary accommodation.”
Annual cost of temporary accommodation in London ‘could be more than £1 billion’
He added: “London Councils estimated earlier this year that the annual cost of temporary accommodation in London could be more than £1 billion. To end this cycle of decline it is vital that whoever wins the next election provides ring-fenced funding for council homelessness services to prevent cash-strapped local authorities from ending funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services at a time when they are needed the most.
“Ultimately, we can only prevent people from sleeping rough and reduce the number of adults and children living in temporary accommodation if we build more social housing and reform broken welfare rules. However, we will ultimately only escape the growing homelessness crisis if we build more social housing so the next government must provide long-term, index-linked funding to help build more social homes.”
The Conservatives say in their manifesto: “We will continue with our plans to end rough sleeping and prevent people from ending upon the streets in the first place, after making significant progress over the last few years. We will deliver our commitments under the Local Authority Housing Fund and review the quality of temporary accommodation.”
Labour says in its document: “The last Labour government made huge strides in ending homelessness. Under the Conservatives, that progress has been undone, with rough sleepers an all too-common sight in our towns and cities, and a sharp rise in hidden homelessness. Building on the lessons of our past, Labour will develop a new cross-government strategy, working with Mayors and Councils across the country, to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness.”
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