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, ***** 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.

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

Objective: The homeless population experiences inequality in health compared with the general population, which may have widened during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the impact of being homeless on the outcomes of COVID-19 is uncertain. This systematic review aimed to analyse the impact of experiencing homelessness on the clinical outcomes of COVID-19, including the effects on health inequalities.Methods: A review protocol was developed and registered in PROSPERO (PROSPERO registration 2022 CRD42022304941). Nine databases were searched in November 2022 to identify studies on homeless populations which contained primary research on the following outcomes of COVID-19: incidence, hospitalisation, mortality, long COVID, mental wellbeing, and evidence of inequalities. Included studies were summarised with narrative synthesis.Results: The searches yielded 8,233 initial hits; after screening, 41 studies were included. Overall, evidence showed that those in crowded living settings had a higher risk of COVID-19 infection compared to rough sleepers and the general population. The homeless population had higher rates of hospitalisation and mortality than the general population, lower vaccination rates, and suffered negative mental health impacts.Conclusion: This systematic review shows the homeless population is more susceptible to COVID-19 outcomes. Further research is needed to determine the actual impact of the pandemic on this population, and of interventions to mitigate overall risk, given the low certainty of findings from some of the low-quality evidence available. In addition, further research is required to ascertain the impact of long COVID on those experiencing homelessness, since the present review yielded no studies on this topic.

Dataset population: Persons in households/Schoolchild or full-time student aged 4 and over at their non-term-time address/Persons in communal establishments/Households/Communal establishments/Persons/Hectares/Persons in communal establishments (including people enumerated as sleeping rough)

Usual resident population

The main population base for statistics from the 2011 Census is the usual resident population as at census day, 27 March 2011. Although the population base for enumeration included non-UK-born short-term residents, this population is analysed separately and is not included in the main outputs from the 2011 Census.

All statistics are produced using only usual residents of the UK unless otherwise specified.

For 2011 Census purposes, a usual resident of the UK is anyone who, on census day, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.

For information about the main population base for statistics, how other population sub-groups are counted, and all variable definitions, see information about ONS variables and classifications.

This statistic presents the distribution of homeless people living in Australia in 2016, by age group. According to the source, approximately 21 percent of the homeless population living in Australia on Census night in 2016 were between 25 to 34 years old.

DCLG collects information on the number of households with or expecting dependent children, who are, at the end of each quarter, in any of the following types of temporary accommodation: • Bed and Breakfast (B&B) - typically involves the use of privately managed hotels where households share at least some facilities and meals are provided; • Annexe accommodation - is also generally paid on a nightly basis, privately managed but may not be part of a B&B hotel and may not involve shared facilities. A distinction is made on the basis of whether at least some facilities are shared or there is exclusive use of all facilities; • Hostel accommodation - hostels assumes shared accommodation, owned or leased and managed by either a local authority, housing association or non-profit making organisation; includes reception centres and emergency units; • Private sector accommodation - dwellings may be leased from the private sector, either directly, or by a local authority or a Registered Social Landlord; • Other - includes mobile homes, such as caravans, ‘demountables’, ‘portacabins’ and ‘transposables.’ The last 20 years have seen a rapid increase in homelessness, with the numbers of officially homeless families peaking in the early 1990s. In 1997 102,000 were statutory homeless, i.e. they met the definition of homelessness laid down in the 1977 Housing (Homeless Persons) Act. Other homeless people included rough sleepers - those without any accommodation at all - and hostel users. In 1997, fifty eight per cent of statutory homeless households had dependent children, and a further 10 per cent had a pregnant household member, compared to 51% and 10% respectively in 2003. Poor housing environments contribute to ill health through poor amenities, shared facilities and overcrowding, inadequate heating or energy inefficiency. The highest risks to health in housing are attached to cold, damp and mouldy conditions. In addition, those in very poor housing, such as homeless hostels and bedsits, are more likely to suffer from poor mental and physical health than those whose housing is of higher quality. People living in temporary accommodation of the bed and breakfast kind have high rates of some infections and skin conditions and children have high rates of accidents. Living in such conditions engenders stress in the parents and impairs normal child development through lack of space for safe play and exploration. Whilst cause and effect are hard to determine, at the very least homelessness prevents the resolution of associated health problems. Legacy unique identifier: P01088

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, 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.

Dataset population: Residents in communal establishments

Communal establishments

A communal establishment is an establishment providing managed residential accommodation. 'Managed' in this context, means full-time or part-time supervision of the accommodation.

Types of communal establishment include:

• Sheltered accommodation units where fewer than 50 per cent of the units in the establishment have their own cooking facilities, or similar accommodation where residents have their own rooms, but a main meal is provided. If half or more possess their own facilities for cooking (regardless of use) all units in the whole establishment are treated as separate households.
• Small hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, inns, and pubs with residential accommodation with room for 10 or more guests (excluding the owner/manager and his/her family).
• All accommodation provided solely for students (during term-time). This includes university-owned cluster flats, houses, and apartments located within student villages. It also includes similar accommodation that is owned by a private company and provided solely for students (University-owned student houses that were difficult to identify and not clearly located with other student residences are treated as households, and houses rented to students by private landlords are also treated as households). Accommodation available only to students may include a small number of caretaking or maintenance staff, or academic staff.
• Accommodation available only to nurses. This includes cluster flats and similar accommodation, provided solely for nurses. Nurses' accommodation on a hospital site that does not also contain patients is treated as a separate communal establishment from the hospital (and not categorised as a hospital), so that nurses are treated as 'residents' and not 'resident staff' or 'patients'. This ensures consistency with similar nurses' accommodation not on a hospital site.

National Health Service (NHS) is used in England, Wales and Scotland. Health and Social Care Trust (HSCT) is used in Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census, HSCT was referred to as NHS/HSSB.

Usual resident population

The main population base for statistics from the 2011 Census is the usual resident population as at census day, 27 March 2011. Although the population base for enumeration included non-UK-born short-term residents, this population is analysed separately and is not included in the main outputs from the 2011 Census.

All statistics are produced using only usual residents of the UK unless otherwise specified.

For 2011 Census purposes, a usual resident of the UK is anyone who, on census day, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.

For information about the main population base for statistics, how other population sub-groups are counted, and all variable definitions, see information about ONS variables and classifications.

Objectives: Homeless people lack a secure, stable place to live, and experience higher rates of serious illness than the housed population. Studies, mainly from the US, have reported increased use of unscheduled health care by homeless individuals. We compared the use of unscheduled ED and inpatient care between housed and homeless hospital patients in a high-income European setting. Setting: A large university teaching hospital serving the south inner city in Dublin, Ireland. Patient data is collected on an electronic patient record within the hospital. Participants: We carried out an observational cross-sectional study using data on all ED visits (n=47,174) and all unscheduled admissions under the general medical take (n=7,031) in 2015. Primary and Secondary Outcome Measures: The address field of the hospital’s electronic patient record was used to identify patients living in emergency accommodation or rough sleeping (hereafter referred to as homeless). Data on demographic detail...

London had the highest homeless death rate in England and Wales in 2021, at 22.5 homeless deaths per million population. By contrast, East England had the lowest homeless death rate at 9.4 deaths per million population.

In 2019, the number of homeless people in Poland amounted to over ** thousand. The most significant number of homeless people among both women and men were between 41 and 60 years old. However, homelessness among women aged 0 to 17 years was higher than among women aged 18-25 years.

This statistic presents the estimated rate of homelessness across Australia in 2016, by state or territory. According to the source, there were approximately 599 homeless people per 10,000 people living in the Northern Territory on Census night in 2016.