Learn more about homelessness in London – From March 2022 to April 2023, outreach teams from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network recorded 10,053 people sleeping rough in London. 64% of these people were doing so for the first time.
The number of people reported to be sleeping rough in London was 10,053 in 2022/23. During the provided time period, the number of people sleeping rough was highest in 2020/21 when there were estimated to be 11,018 rough sleepers.
Newham in east London is ranked as England's number one homelessness hotspot, with at least one in every 24 people in housing insecurity. More than 14,500 people were in temporary accommodation in the borough, and 76 were sleeping rough.
The increase from 8,329 people seen sleeping rough in 2021-22 to 10,053 in 2022-23 was described as “categorically terrible” by Rick Henderson, the chief executive of the Homeless Link frontline charity, and “extremely alarming” by Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London.
London has had the biggest rise of rough sleepers in England according to government figures, with an increase of 34% across a 12-month period. There were an estimated 858 people sleeping rough in the capital on a single night in autumn 2022, compared to 640 the year before.
Homelessness is a growing problem in the UK, where the number of people sleeping rough has doubled since 2010, yet it is dwarfed by the scale of the issue in the US. More than 500,000 homeless were found across the US during just one night, compared to the UK's 2017 count of 4,751.
The lack of social housing
Across the country, there is a chronic shortage of social housing because, for decades, successive governments have failed to build enough. This has left millions of people and countless communities without access to secure, long-term homes with rent they can afford.
Nigeria has the world's highest number of homeless people Although there appears to be a precise number of homeless people, it is impossible to track and quantify those who change their state of “homelessness”. Nigerians frequently migrate from rural areas to large cities in search of shelter, money and opportunity.
In 2022/23, 32.1 percent of people seen to be sleeping rough in London were aged between 36 and 45 years old, the most common age group in that year. In this same year, just 8.4 percent of people seen to be homeless were under the aged between 18 and 24, and a further 12 percent were aged over 55.
Posted 11 Jan 2023
New research from Shelter shows at least 271,000 people are recorded as homeless in England, including 123,000 children. Shelter's detailed analysis of official homelessness figures and responses to a Freedom of Information request shows that one in 208 people in England are without a home.
Rough sleeping is a criminal offence under section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824 (as amended), subject to certain conditions. There is also an offence for 'being in enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose', which is used, for example, when dealing with people suspected of burglary.
Some people are more at risk of being pushed into homelessness than others. People in low paid jobs, living in poverty and poor quality or insecure housing are more likely to experience homelessness.
There are more than 260,000 homeless people in Germany, according to government statistics published Friday. Based on the first report by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on the homelessness situation, as of Jan. 31, 2022, there were 263,000 people who did not have a permanent home.
The greater Paris region alone accounts for 44% of homeless people. 38% of the homeless are women.
The number of people sleeping rough in London more than tripled between 2008/09 and 2020/21 from around 3,472 to 11,018. 2021/22 saw the number fall back somewhat to 8,329 but it increased again in 2022/23 to 10,053.
A breakdown by London borough shows that the rate of homelessness is highest in Newham, where one person in 21 in homeless, followed by Westminster, Haringey, Hackney and Redbridge. Newham also has by far the largest estimated absolute number of homeless people at 16,568 followed by Haringey's 7,986.
In 2021/22, the number of people homeless in rural England stood at 20,855, up from 17,212 (21.2%) in 2018/19. A multitude of factors is to blame: a lack of homeless support, lower wages, high housing costs, second homes and poor transport infrastructure.
In terms of street homelessness, official rough sleeping statistics show an estimated 3,069 people sleeping rough across England on a single night in autumn 2022. That's the first time the count has shown a rise since 2017.
What is rough sleeping? Rough sleeping is the most visible and extreme form of homelessness, where people literally risk their lives by sleeping in the open air, or in places that are not designed to be lived in.
Realistically in Australia, most people experiencing homelessness are hidden from sight. They could be sleeping in a car, couch surfing or enduring the night on public buses. They may have shelter but no permanent place to make a home. These are the “hidden homeless”.
In our municipality, homelessness rates have soared over the past 10 years. The 2016 ABS census recorded 1725 people as homeless in the City of Melbourne. In Victoria, for every person sleeping on the street, there are another 21 people experiencing homelessness.
While there is no definitive answer, some reports have claimed that Japan has a homelessness rate of 0%. We can't state with absolute certainty that those numbers are true and accurate, but if they are, then Japan stands alone in that feat.
All Local Housing Authorities (LHAs) in the United Kingdom have a legal statutory duty to provide 24-hour advice to homeless people, or those who are at risk of becoming homeless within 28 days.
However, the cost-of-living crisis, along with a significant shortage of afforable housing and insufficient funding for homelessness services, means the number of people sleeping rough has increased sharply in recent years. Projects often struggle to find the funding they need to do this vital work.
“Everyone deserves a permanent home, but the chronic shortage of affordable housing in the capital means too many Londoners find themselves homeless and reliant on temporary accommodation arranged by their local council. The numbers are so high they are equivalent to the entire population of a London borough.”