In 2024/25, 13,231 people who were seen to be sleeping rough in London compared with 11,993 in the previous reporting year, and the most reported during this time period. The number of people reported to be sleeping rough has steadily increased throughout this time period, with the dip in 2020/21, and 2022/23, likely related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Demographics of London's homeless As of the most recent reporting year, over 2,000 of London's rough sleepers were in the borough of Westminster, the most of any London borough. In terms of gender, the majority of rough sleepers are male, with more than 10,000 men seen to be sleeping rough, compared with 2,149 women, and 18 non-binary people. The most common age group was among those aged between 36 and 45 years old, at more than 3,900, compared with 1,411 25 and under, 3,580 aged between 26 and 34, 2,860 aged 45 and 55, and around 1,578 over 55s. Homelessness in the U.S. Homelessness is also an important social issue in several other countries. In the United States, for example, there were estimated to be approximately 653,104 people experiencing homelessness in 2023. This was a noticeable increase on the previous year, and the highest number between 2007 and 2023. When looking at U.S. states, New York had the highest homelessness rate, at 52 individuals per 10,000 population, followed by Vermont at 51.

In 2024/25, there were ***** rough sleepers reported in Westminster, making it the London borough with the highest number of rough sleepers in that year. Other boroughs which also had a high number of homeless people included, Camden, Ealing, and Southwark.

In 2024/25, approximately 5,462 of the 13,231 people seen to be sleeping rough in London were from the UK, the most-common nationality that year. The second-most common nationality was Romanian, at 828 people.

In 2024/25, ***** people who were seen to be sleeping rough in London were aged between 36 and 45 years old, the most common age group in that year. In this same year, ***** people seen to be homeless were aged 25 or under, and a further ***** were aged over 55.

In 2024/25, ****** men were reported to be sleeping rough in London with a further ***** women, and ** non-binary people. Since 2010/11 there has been an increase in the number of people reported to be sleeping rough in London, increasing from almost ***** in 2010/11 to more than ****** by 2022/23. Throughout this time period, the majority of people seen to be sleeping rough in London have been men. Characteristics of homeless people in London Of the rough sleepers seen in London in 2023/24, the most common age group were those aged between 36 and 45, at *****. In terms of nationality, most rough sleepers were from the United Kingdom at ***** people, with Romanian being the second-highest nationality, at *** people. The London Borough which had the highest number of people sleeping rough was Westminster, at ***** people, while the borough of Sutton had the fewest rough sleepers, at **. Tragic implications of homelessness In 2021, *** homeless people in London lost their lives, which was the highest number of homeless deaths per region in England and Wales. In terms of the homeless death rate, the worst region was also London, at **** deaths per million people in 2021. North West England had the second-highest deaths per million people, at **. Between 2013 and 2019, the number of homeless deaths in England and Wales increased from 392 to ***, before falling to *** in 2020 and *** in 2021.

Information These published reports present information from the multi-agency database Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN), about people seen rough sleeping by outreach teams in London. CHAIN, which is commissioned and funded by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and managed by Homeless Link, represents one of the UK’s most detailed and comprehensive sources of information about rough sleeping. Services that record information on CHAIN include outreach teams, assessment centres, accommodation projects, day centres and other specialist projects. The system allows users to share information about work done with people sleeping rough and about their needs, ensuring that they receive the most appropriate support and that efforts are not duplicated. In these reports, people are counted as having been seen rough sleeping if they have been encountered by a commissioned outreach worker bedded down on the street, or in other open spaces or locations not designed for habitation, such as doorways, stairwells, parks or derelict buildings. The report does not include people from “hidden homeless” groups such as those “sofa surfing” or living in squats, unless they have also been seen bedded down in one of the settings outlined above. Separate reports are produced for London as a whole and for individual boroughs, and these are published each quarter. There are also annual reports that contain aggregated information for each full year. Interactive Visualisation Tool Quarterly Data Tool Annual Data Tool A suite of online interactive charts and maps based on CHAIN data is available by clicking the above links. The data available via these tools mirrors that presented in the published PDF documents, with the addition of filters and other enhancements to allow users to interrogate the data. The Quarterly Data Tool shows data from the last eight quarters, and the Annual Data Tool shows data from the last five years. Organisations Using CHAIN A list of the organisations which have signed the CHAIN Data Protection Agreement and are able to access the live CHAIN system is also available to download. PDF Reports & Data tables As of January 2024, published CHAIN PDF reports are accompanied by an OpenDocument Spreadsheet file providing the underlying data in an accessible aggregated tabular format. The file includes data at local authority level, and for London overall, including comparative data for previous periods. There is also an accompanying explanatory notes document, which provides important contextual information about the data. Please click the links below to download a zip file containing the PDF reports and OpenDocument Spreadsheet for the corresponding timeframe. Publication Schedule Reports are published 1 month after the end of each quarter and one quarter after the end of each year. The linked document below provides details of forthcoming publications Quarterly and Annual Report Schedule 2024/25 2024/25 Q3 2024/25 Greater London 2024/25 Q3 Borough Reports 2024/25 Q3 Quarterly Data Tables 2024/25 Q3 Q2 2024/25 Greater London 2024/25 Q2 Borough Reports 2024/25 Q2 Quarterly Data Tables 2024/25 Q2 Q1 2024/25 Greater London 2024/25 Q1 Borough Reports 2024/25 Q1 Quarterly Data Tables 2024/25 Q1 2023/24 Greater London Bulletin Greater London full report Borough Annual Reports Annual Data Tables Quarterly Reports and Data Tables (for Q3 and Q4 only) 2022/23 Greater London bulletin Greater London full report Borough Annual Reports Quarterly Reports 2021/22 Greater London bulletin Greater London full report Borough Annual Reports Quarterly Reports 2020/21 Greater London bulletin Greater London full report Borough Annual Reports Quarterly Reports 2019/20 Greater London bulletin Greater London full report Borough Annual Reports Quarterly Reports 2018/19 Greater London bulletin Greater London full report Borough Annual Reports Quarterly Reports 2017/18 Greater London bulletin Greater London full report Borough Annual Reports Quarterly Reports 2016/17 Greater London bulletin Greater London full report Borough Annual Reports Quarterly Reports 2015/16 Greater London bulletin Greater London full report Borough Annual Reports Quarterly Reports 2014/15 Greater London bulletin Greater London full report Borough Annual Reports Quarterly Reports Pre-2014/15 For earlier reports please see the end of this page. This dataset is one of the Greater London Authority's measures of Economic Fairness. Click here to find out more.

These reports present information about people seen rough sleeping by outreach teams in London. Information in the report is derived from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN), a multi-agency database recording information about rough sleepers and the wider street population in London. CHAIN, which is commissioned and funded by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and managed by St Mungo’s, represents the UK’s most detailed and comprehensive source of information about rough sleeping.

Services that record information on CHAIN include outreach teams, accommodation projects, day centres and specialist projects such as the GLA-commissioned No Second Night Out (NSNO). The system allows users to share information about work done with rough sleepers and about their needs, ensuring that they receive the most appropriate support and that efforts are not duplicated.

In these reports, people are counted as having been seen rough sleeping if they have been encountered by a commissioned outreach worker bedded down on the street, or in other open spaces or locations not designed for habitation, such as doorways, stairwells, parks or derelict buildings. The report does not include people from “hidden homeless” groups such as those “sofa surfing” or living in squats, unless they have also been seen bedded down in one of the settings outlined above.

Separate reports are produced for London as a whole and for individual boroughs, and these are published each quarter. There are also annual reports that contain aggregated information for all four quarters of the year. The reports listed below cover the period from 1 April 2014 onwards. Earlier reports can be found on the St Mungo’s website.

2021/22

• Quarterly and Annual Reports Schedule 2021/22
• Quarter 1 Reports
• Quarter 2 Reports

2020/21

• Greater London Bulletin
• Greater London full report
• Borough Annual Reports
• Quarterly Reports

2019/20

• Greater London bulletin
• Greater London full report
• Borough Annual Reports
• Quarterly Reports

2018/19

• Greater London bulletin
• Greater London full report
• Borough Annual Reports
• Quarterly Reports

2017/18

• Greater London bulletin
• Greater London full report
• Borough Annual Reports
• Quarterly Reports

2016/17

• [Greater London bulletin](https://data.london.gov.uk/download/chain-reports/0b93bc40-963b-476e-b043-523e790dbde3/Greater%20London%20bull

London had the highest homeless death rate in England and Wales in 2021, at **** homeless deaths per million population. By contrast, East England had the lowest homeless death rate at *** deaths per million population.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. A comparative study of the causes of new episodes of homelessness among people aged 50 or more years was undertaken in Boston, Massachusetts (USA), Melbourne, Australia, and four English cities. The aims were to make a substantial contribution to the predominantly American debate on the causes of homelessness, and to make practice recommendations for the improvement of prevention. The study had several objectives. It aimed to collect information about the antecedents, triggers and risk factors for becoming homeless in later life and about the national and local policy and service contexts. Furthermore, the researchers aimed to analyse and interpret the findings with reference to an integrated model of the causes of homelessness that represented structural and policy factors, including housing, health and social service organisation and delivery factors, and personal circumstances, events, problems and dysfunctions. The aim was to do this collaboratively, by drawing on the project partners' experience and knowledge. Finally, it was hoped to develop recommendations for housing, primary health care and social welfare organisations for the prevention of homelessness. This was to be done by identifying the common sequences and interactions of events that precede homelessness and their markers (or 'early warning' indicators) and by holding workshops in England with practitioners and their representative organisations on new ways of working. By the study of contrasting welfare and philanthropic regimes in a relatively homogeneous category of homeless incidence (i.e. recent cases among late middle-aged and older people), it was hoped that valuable insights into the relative contributions of the policy, service and personal factors would be obtained. The study focused on older people who had recently become homeless, purposely to gather detailed and reliable information about the prior and contextual circumstances. To have included people who had been homeless for several years would have reduced the quality of the data because of 'recall' problems. Users should note that data from the Australian sample for the study are not included in this dataset. Main Topics: The data file includes information about the English respondents and those from Boston. It was compiled in two stages. The first stage involved each project partner entering the pre-coded responses into the file. All partners then identified themes and created codes for the open-ended responses, and the resulting variables were added. Data quality-control procedures included blind checks of the data coding and keying. The first 200 variables pertain to information collected from the respondents. They comprise descriptive variables of the circumstances prior to homelessness, including housing tenure during the three years prior to the survey, previous homelessness, employment history, income, health and addiction problems, and contacts with family, friends and formal services. The respondents were asked to rate whether specific factors were implicated in becoming homeless, and where appropriate, a following open-ended question sought elaboration. The remaining variables comprise information collected from the respondents' 'key workers' about their understanding of the events and states that led to their clients becoming homeless. No sampling frame was available. The sample profiles have been compared with those of all homeless people (not just the recently homeless) in the study locations, most effectively in London and Boston. No gross biases were revealed. The samples represent a large percentage of the clients who presented to the collaborating organisations during the study period and who gave their informed consent to participate. Agreed definitions of homelessness were: sleeping on the streets or in temporary accommodation such as shelters; being without accommodation following eviction or discharge from prison or hospital; living temporarily with relatives or friends because the person has no accommodation, but only if the stay had not exceeded six months, and the person did not pay rent and was required to leave. People who had been previously homeless were included in the survey if they had been housed for at least 12 months prior to the current episode of homelessness. Face-to-face interview Self-completion the 'key workers' (case managers) completed questionnaires about their assessments of the respondents’ problems and of the events and states that led to homelessness. Further clarifications and checks were made by telephone.

In 2023/24, 65,350 households in London were owed homeless prevention or relief duties, the most of any region of England. North West England had 48,230 households receiving homeless duties in this year, the second-highest English region.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The FOR-HOME longitudinal study collected information about the experiences of 400 homeless people who were resettled from hostels and other temporary accommodation into independent tenancies in London, Leeds, Nottingham and Sheffield during 2007-09. Interviews were conducted at three points: during 2007-10 just before they were rehoused, and then six and 15/18 months later. The study’s aims were: to discover the ways in which homeless people adjust to being rehoused, the problems that they face and how these are overcome, and the outcomes in terms of tenancy sustainment, housing satisfaction, well-being, and achieved levels of independenceto identify the personal, service-related (preparation and follow-up) and accommodation-related factors that influence resettlement outcomesto produce policy and practice recommendations and guidelines.After 15/18 months, 80% of the respondents were still housed (including a few who had changed tenancies), but 10% had been evicted or abandoned their accommodation (half of these were known to have returned to the streets or a hostel). Many experienced difficulties in the early months with equipping their new accommodation and with managing finances. During this time, however, only half received help from tenancy support workers, and the allocation of this help was unrelated to needs. Over the first six months, the prevalence of having debts increased, but the average value of the debt decreased. Incomes were very unstable, even among the employed, because most were in insecure jobs with fluctuating hours and pay rates. Overall the early findings indicated that resettlement for homeless people has positive outcomes, and eviction/abandonment rates are low. further information may be found on the ESRC's Factors in the Outcomes of the Resettlement of Homeless People award webpage. Main Topics: The study covered resettlement and independent living among homeless people resettled from hostels and other temporary accommodation into independent tenancies. One-stage stratified or systematic random sample Face-to-face interview Self-completion 2007 2010 AGE ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR ARMED FORCES ASPIRATION CHILDREN IN CARE CLEANING COOKING SKILLS COUNSELLING DAY CARE DEBTS DOMESTIC APPLIANCES DOMESTIC RESPONSIBI... DRINKING BEHAVIOUR DRUG ABUSE EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND EMOTIONAL STATES EMPLOYMENT HISTORY ENERGY SUPPLY ETHNIC GROUPS EVICTION England Equality FAMILY MEMBERS FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES FINANCIAL RESOURCES FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOOD AND NUTRITION FURNISHED ACCOMMODA... GRANTS HOMELESSNESS HOSTELS HOUSEHOLD BUDGETS HOUSEHOLD PETS HOUSING BENEFITS HOUSING CONDITIONS HOUSING TENURE Housing ILL HEALTH INCOME JOB HUNTING LANDLORDS LEISURE TIME ACTIVI... LONELINESS MEDICAL CARE MENTAL DISORDERS MENTAL HEALTH MENTALLY VULNERABLE... NEIGHBOURHOODS NEIGHBOURS PARENTS PARTNERSHIPS PERSONAL PERSONAL FINANCE MA... PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES QUALIFICATIONS READING ACTIVITY RENTED ACCOMMODATION RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY SHELTERED HOUSING SINGLE OCCUPANCY HO... SOCIAL PARTICIPATION SOCIAL PROBLEMS SOCIAL SECURITY BEN... SOCIAL SKILLS SOCIAL SUPPORT SPOUSES Specific social ser... TEMPORARY HOUSING TIED HOUSING TRAINING COURSES VISITORS VOLUNTARY WORK inequality and soci...

Information

These published reports present information from the multi-agency database Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN), about people seen rough sleeping by outreach teams in London. CHAIN, which is commissioned and funded by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and managed by Homeless Link, represents one of the UK’s most detailed and comprehensive sources of information about rough sleeping.

Services that record information on CHAIN include outreach teams, assessment centres, accommodation projects, day centres and other specialist projects. The system allows users to share information about work done with people sleeping rough and about their needs, ensuring that they receive the most appropriate support and that efforts are not duplicated.

In these reports, people are counted as having been seen rough sleeping if they have been encountered by a commissioned outreach worker bedded down on the street, or in other open spaces or locations not designed for habitation, such as doorways, stairwells, parks or derelict buildings. The report does not include people from “hidden homeless” groups such as those “sofa surfing” or living in squats, unless they have also been seen bedded down in one of the settings outlined above.

Separate reports are produced for London as a whole and for individual boroughs, and these are published each quarter. There are also annual reports that contain aggregated information for each full year.

Interactive Visualisation Tool

Quarterly Data Tool

Annual Data Tool

A suite of online interactive charts and maps based on CHAIN data is available by clicking the above links. The data available via these tools mirrors that presented in the published PDF documents, with the addition of filters and other enhancements to allow users to interrogate the data. The Quarterly Data Tool shows data from the last eight quarters, and the Annual Data Tool shows data from the last five years.

Organisations Using CHAIN

A list of the  organisations which have signed the CHAIN Data Protection Agreement  and are able to access the live CHAIN system is also available to download.

PDF Reports & Data tables

As of January 2024, published CHAIN PDF reports are accompanied by an OpenDocument Spreadsheet file providing the underlying data in an accessible aggregated tabular format. The file includes data at local authority level, and for London overall, including comparative data for previous periods. There is also an accompanying  explanatory notes  document, which provides important contextual information about the data.

Please click the links below to download a zip file containing the PDF reports and OpenDocument Spreadsheet for the corresponding timeframe.

Publication Schedule

Reports are published 1 month after the end of each quarter and one quarter after the end of each year. The linked document below provides details of forthcoming publications

Quarterly and Annual Report Schedule 2025/26

2024/25

Q4 2024/25

• Greater London 2024/25 Q 4
• Borough Reports 2024/25 Q <a href="https://data.london.gov.uk/download/cha

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The FOR-HOME longitudinal study collected information about the experiences of 400 homeless people who were resettled from hostels and other temporary accommodation into independent tenancies in London, Leeds, Nottingham and Sheffield during 2007-09. Interviews were conducted at three points: during 2007-10 just before they were rehoused, and then six and 15/18 months later. The study’s aims were:

• to discover the ways in which homeless people adjust to being rehoused, the problems that they face and how these are overcome, and the outcomes in terms of tenancy sustainment, housing satisfaction, well-being, and achieved levels of independence
• to identify the personal, service-related (preparation and follow-up) and accommodation-related factors that influence resettlement outcomes
• to produce policy and practice recommendations and guidelines.

After 15/18 months, 80% of the respondents were still housed (including a few who had changed tenancies), but 10% had been evicted or abandoned their accommodation (half of these were known to have returned to the streets or a hostel). Many experienced difficulties in the early months with equipping their new accommodation and with managing finances. During this time, however, only half received help from tenancy support workers, and the allocation of this help was unrelated to needs. Over the first six months, the prevalence of having debts increased, but the average value of the debt decreased. Incomes were very unstable, even among the employed, because most were in insecure jobs with fluctuating hours and pay rates. Overall the early findings indicated that resettlement for homeless people has positive outcomes, and eviction/abandonment rates are low.

further information may be found on the ESRC's Factors in the Outcomes of the Resettlement of Homeless People award webpage.


Main Topics:

The study covered resettlement and independent living among homeless people resettled from hostels and other temporary accommodation into independent tenancies.

This statistic shows the support needs of reported rough sleepers people in London, United Kingdom (UK), in 2018/19. ** percent of homeless people were assessed to not have any alcohol, drug or mental health support needs, while ** percent were assessed to have all three.

In London, there were estimated to have been *** deaths of homeless people in 2021, the most of any region of England and Wales. This was followed by North West England, which had with *** identified deaths.

Various service provision models for youth at risk of homelessness have been researched and implemented, including access to housing, physical and mental health resources, etc. However, there has been no alleviation in symptoms of depression and anxiety and the rate of drug use in these populations. This paper presents the results of a mixed-methods study in London, Canada, that examined the feasibility of implementing the SKY Schools intervention in at-risk youth aged between 16-25 (n=49). The study also recorded qualitative responses about the program’s usefulness from the perspective of the service users. The SKY schools intervention consisted of social-emotional learning combined with Sudarshan Kriya Yoga, a standardized yoga-based breathing exercise routine. The intervention program was divided into two phases; an active learning phase and a reinforcement phase. The results demonstrated that it is feasible to conduct a definitive trial in this population due to a high retention rate (61.2%) and overall positive feedback. Future researchers may consider the feedback received when designing a randomized control trial to further assess efficacy and tolerability.

This statistic shows the number of accommodation projects to house homeless people in England in 2018, by type. There were 183 projects in London, compared with only 55 in the North East of England.