The number of people sleeping rough in britain is ‘a source of national shame’ as westminster and holyrood lose their grip on the homelessness crisis

HOMELESSNESS

Damning official rough sleeping statistics have laid bare the Westminster government’s total failure to deliver on its empty promise to end street homelessness for good.

The annual rough sleeping snapshot, released last week, found an estimated 3,898 people were homeless on the streets on a single night in autumn 2023.

That figure is up more than a quarter on the 3,069 people counted in 2022, although down on the 2017 peak when frontline workers counted 4,751 people.

With a general election on the horizon, the official count was the last opportunity for ministers to show they were on track to meet the 2019 Conservative manifesto promise of ending rough sleeping for good by December 2024.

Instead, the figures extinguished any remaining forlorn hope of that target being met and revealed that numbers had more than doubled since the Tories came to power in 2010, when 1,768 people were counted sleeping rough. In fact, homelessness experts said numbers were on track to hit a new high in 2024 instead.

Alexia Murphy, chief executive of homelessness charity Depaul UK, said: “Tragically, we are now seeing a return of scenes reminiscent of the 1980s, with rough sleeping strikingly present in towns and cities across the country.

“As an organisation formed in response to the ‘cardboard city’ crisis, this backward slide is heartbreaking to witness.

“The impact of the cost of living crisis, the desperate lack of investment in social housing, and shortsighted Home Office policies that lack planning for the thousands of people leaving asylum accommodation, means the number of people with nowhere to go will continue to rise at an alarming rate.

“There is no doubt the government will fail to keep its promise to end rough sleeping by the end of this parliament.”

Earlier in the week, the government had announced £220 million funding to build 800 homes for rough sleepers. A government spokesperson told The Big Issue: “While we have made good progress and rough sleeping remains below pre-pandemic levels, there is more work to be done to meet our ambition to end it entirely and we will continue to work with local authorities to help people off the streets for good.”

But that money won’t even “touch the sides” of a crisis that is quickly getting out of hand, according to Centrepoint’s Alicia Walker.