Race to end rough sleeping
Sleeping rough is a dangerous and traumatising experience. Rough sleepers have an average life expectancy of just 42 years, compared with the national average of 74 for men and 79 for women.
It's a scandal that rough sleeping should still exist today in 21st century Britain. Yet, Government figures tell us that at least 500 people sleep on the streets of England each night, around half in London. In reality the numbers are probably higher than this.
Still, this is much fewer than it was in the late 1990s, when there were around 1,800 people sleeping rough on any one night, showing that it is possible to tackle and reduce rough sleeping.
Crisis campaigning on rough sleeping
As a result of campaigning by Crisis and others, the Government and the Mayor of London committed to getting rough sleeper numbers as close as possible to zero by 2012.
We are now calling on all political parties to join the race to end rough sleeping. In autumn 2009 we took our campaign to the Conservative Party Conference and called on David Cameron to join the example of his party colleague London Mayor Boris Johnson and commit to ending rough sleeping.
We’ll be continuing to push all the main political parties to join the race – and keep going until the finish line.
By signing up to be a Crisis e-campaigner, you can help to keep the pressure up.
