News Rough sleeping in London up by 33%: Statement from Glass Door Homeless Charity The Greater London Authority’s latest Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) report came out today. The report showed that between January and March 2024, outreach teams saw 4118 people sleeping rough in London. This represents a 33% increase compared to the same period of time last year. Of this 4118, 2038 were sleeping rough for the very first time - a 37% increase compared to 2023. The proportion of people seen sleeping rough aged 18-35 was just under 38%, compared to 33% the year before. Jo Carter, CEO at Glass Door Homeless Charity, had the following to say: “The government committed to ending rough sleeping by 2024, this commitment will not be met and instead the latest CHAIN data shows that we are seeing that yet again, the number of people having to sleep rough across London is growing. We see the impact of this growth on the front-line with more and more people turning to us for support. Every year we run a network of night shelters during the coldest months, most recently from November 2023 until early April 2024. This winter we saw a massive and incredibly worrying rise in demand for emergency shelter with 1568 people registering for a place, representing a 70% increase on the previous year, and a total of 542 people stayed in the shelters throughout the winter. The cost-of-living crisis and housing crisis combined create a situation where people cannot find anywhere they can afford in London. Sky-high private rents, a shortage of social housing and Section 21 evictions have left far too many people in impossible situations. We call on the government to take urgent action to address these issues so that rough sleeping can finally be eliminated.” Manage Cookie Preferences
