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:

• 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.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• 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 homes in 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.”

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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.