World News

UK coronavirus live: Britain reports 29,079 new cases; Boris Johnson hails vaccine successes | Politics


There were 412 rough sleepers deemed to be permanently on the streets between October and December 2020, according to data published by the Greater London Authority.

While this is 9% lower than the same quarter in 2019, it is a 23% rise from the July to September figures.

These are people who have been spotted by outreach teams at least five times over a period of at least three weeks.

But there were higher numbers of rough sleepers observed who were not seen regularly enough to be deemed as living on the streets.

The data, collated by multi-agency database the Combined Homelessness And Information Network (Chain), shows 1,360 people were seen rough sleeping in the period.

This is 9% lower than the same quarter in 2019 but up 10% from the July to September count.

Overall, 3,307 people were seen sleeping rough at least once, a 4% fall from the previous quarter, when 3,444 people were identified.

Of these, 1,582 were new rough sleepers – down 17% from the previous quarter.

At the start of the coronavirus crisis, the government asked local authorities to house all rough sleepers and those in hostels and night shelters within days as part of the “Everyone In” campaign.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the number of people still sleeping rough is a “national disgrace” and must be a wake-up call for the government.

He said: “City Hall and London boroughs have helped thousands of rough sleepers into emergency hotel accommodation, many of whom have since been supported into longer-term housing.

“However, we cannot ignore the huge number of Londoners who find themselves sleeping on the streets due to the effects of the pandemic.

“Teams across the capital are working tirelessly with homelessness charities to help people into accommodation.

“Ministers must now redouble their efforts to give all those who are sleeping rough a settled home, including those without recourse to public funds whom the government are making it hardest to help.”



Sahred From Source link World News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *