Huge rise in rough sleeping needs urgent Government action
published on 31 Jul 2024
Huge rise in rough sleeping needs urgent Government action
The Salvation Army is calling for urgent action from the new Government as figures published today show that rough sleeping in London has jumped by almost a third.
The quarterly London Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) figures,* which are the most detailed data on rough sleeping in England show a rise of 29% from the same period the previous year.
From April – June 2024, the new figures show that there were 4,223 people sleeping rough;
- New rough sleepers accounted for 46%
- Intermittent** rough sleepers accounted for 41%
- People living on the streets accounted for 15%
The Salvation Army is one of the country’s biggest providers of homelessness services and is warning the Government that unless they take urgent action, these figures will continue to rise.
Director of The Salvation Army Homeless Services, Nick Redmore, said:
“Everyone deserves a roof over their heads, but today’s shocking figures starkly outline the scale of the challenge facing the new Government.
People who become homeless suffer poor mental and physical health, social isolation and trauma making it very challenging to survive without the right kind of services and support in place.
“Sleeping rough is one of the most dangerous forms of homelessness. Extending priority need for homelessness support to include people who are sleeping rough and maintaining Local Housing Allowance so people can afford to pay rent should be top priorities for our new Government.
“Bringing an end to homelessness can be the Labour Government’s legacy. We look forward to working with the new Government to ensure everyone has a home but in order to do this homelessness services need to be properly funded.
“The Government must also deliver a sustained investment and increase in housing stock and especially social housing, to meet the needs of the growing numbers of people experiencing homelessness.”
The Salvation Army is also calling for the Government to:
- Commit to abolishing priority need within the next decade. This means that people experiencing homelessness should be able to get help with housing from their local council, whether or not they fall into a ‘priority need’ group such as people with children or people who are especially vulnerable.
- Commit to maintaining Local Housing Allowance (LHA) at the 30th percentile*** in the forthcoming budget. LHA has to reflect actual rent levels otherwise it won’t cover even the cheapest rents in many areas especially in cities which pushes people into poverty.
- Introduce the same recording system of the rough sleeping population as in London (CHAIN statistics) to other cities and regions in the UK with high levels of homelessness, providing detailed information on the number of homeless people across the whole country in need of support. This will mean that Local Authorities can better plan their homeless support and prevention services.
