Rough sleeper count

This is the biggest year-on-year increase in rough sleeping since 2015, and up by one quarter on the 2021 figure, the Department of Levelling Up, Housing, and Communitiesstudy shows. Only those sleeping outdoors or in buildings that are not suitable for habitation are counted, meaning the true figure is also likely to be much higher.

“This shocking rise in the number of people sleeping rough represents a massive, collective failure. People are being let down by systems that should protect them, forced onto the streets at the expense of their physical and mental health,” said Rick Henderson, CEO at Homeless Link.

The cost of living crisis has exacerbated long-standing,” such as the “shortage of affordable housing, an often punitive welfare system and increasingly stretched health services. This is exacerbated by “financial pressures” facing homelessness services across the country.

The number of people living on the streets fell in England during the pandemic, when the government’s ‘Everyone In’ programme provided emergency accommodation for people experiencing homelessness. Newbury Soup Kitchen cooked and delivered freshly cooked meals to everyone in emergency accommodation March – September 2020 seven days a week. Without that support, those people would not have received food.

During the lockdown, it was made clear that rough sleeping can be stopped when there is the will there and funding available. . Yet, instead, this support has been taken away, at a time when the cost of living is at an all-time high, which will push even more people into homelessness.

We are seeing key workers such as nurses and firefighters accessing food banks. It is very likely that people will this year be unable to pay their rent or mortgages. Interest rate increases are also putting unimaginable stress on many people.

“This is why it is critical we act now and put the safety nets in place to not only help those who have already been pushed into homelessness, but also the families and individuals currently balancing on the precipice of homelessness.” Much of our work is concentrated now on homeless prevention. People who have been housed during lockdown are now finding themselves in rent arrears and facing section 21’s or evictions as they are pushed to breaking point”, leading to an increase in rough sleeping.

Department of Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities (DLUHC) report counts those who are sleeping rough on a single night between October 1 and November 30 2022. The 2022 figure is 74 per cent higher than the number in 2010.

All the data provided by DLUHC is independently verified by Homeless Link to ensure reliability, but it is difficult to quantify how many people are homeless as there are many different types of homelessness.

People who are in temporary accommodations, hostels, shelters, or sofa surfing with friends and relatives can also be considered homeless but are not included in those statistics.

Research from housing and homelessness charity Shelter published in January 2022 revealed at least 271,0000 people are recorded as homeless in England – of which 123,000 are children – while 68 per cent of families have been living in temporary accommodation for over a year.

This figure is expected to rise to 300,000 this year, according to homelessness charity Crisis.

London and Luton have been recorded as having the highest rates of homelessnessacross the country, while one in 74 people are homeless in Manchester and one in 78 people in Brighton and Hove are homeless.

Those described as experiencing “hidden homelessness” are regularly slipping through the cracks of any recorded statistics of homelessness from the government or charitable organisations 62% of homelessness is hidden from people who sofa surf.