New data out today show that between July and September 2025 an average of 23 people every day were forced to sleep rough for the first time in London.
The new figures from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) also show that:
The number of people living on the streets in London has reached 759 – an 11% rise on the same period a year before, and the second highest number on record
The number of people living on the streets has more than doubled (102%) from the same period 10 years ago (July 2015-September 2015)
4,711 people were forced to sleep rough. While this is a 1% decrease from the same period last year, this is the second highest number since records began
The number of people sleeping rough for the first time was 2,116, down 10% compared to the same time the year before
As private rents continue to rise, benefits fall short of housing costs and the supply of social and affordable housing decreases, more and more people are struggling to find somewhere safe and stable to live. Although London councils are now spending almost £5 million per day to house people in temporary accommodation, near record numbers of people are still falling through the gaps – and experiencing the most dangerous form of homelessness.
Last week, charities expressed concern after the UK Government and City Hall announced reduced affordable housing targets for developers in London. While the aim of the policy is to increase overall housebuilding rates, Crisis has emphasised that previous, similar approaches to reducing targets and relying on faith in market forces have not produced the required rates of new homes for social rent.
Responding to today’s figures, Matt Downie, Chief Executive at Crisis, said:
“Tragically, we are now used to seeing an average of 23 people forced to sleep rough in London for the first time every single day. But what we’re also seeing is more people being forced to sleep on the streets for longer periods of time. The situations people are facing are becoming more desperate, the barriers to moving away from the streets more difficult to overcome.
“We have to do more to escape this pattern of poverty and destitution. We desperately need to start building the right kind of homes, and coordinate and fund the right kind of support.
“In the next few months the UK Government can have an immediate impact. In the Budget, ministers can bring housing benefit back in line with the true cost of local rents, and they can also publish an ambitious new homelessness strategy that will show how we will deliver new social homes. Both would show they are determined to stop people facing the threats and uncertainty of another cold night out on the streets, and offer the different, more positive future of a safe and stable home.”
