By Sammie Jones
New figures reveal an increase in new rough sleepers from July to September this year was 50 per cent higher than in 2018 and a third higher than last quarter.
The figures reveal that a total of 2,069 people spent their first night on the streets, compared with 1,382 people in the same period last year, according to data from the Greater London Authority.
The data comes from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network, a City Hall funded database managed by rough-sleeping charity St Mungo’s.
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Howard Sinclair, the charity’s chief executive, said: “There is a rough sleeping crisis on our streets, not just in London, but across the country. This is a national scandal.
“To learn that more than 20 people slept rough for the first time each night in London over the summer brings the scale of the issue into sharp focus.
“That’s more people alone and on the streets for the first time, exposed to dangers including violence, abuse and serious ill health.”
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Mr Sinclair attributed the rise in rough sleeping to “the failure of successive governments” to address the causes of homelessness.
He said: “Charities can’t tackle this alone and we urgently need the Government to take bold action and a longer-term view.
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