sleeping in London in a year unaffected by Covid since comparable records began in 2014
Hello there, I hope this finds you well?
I'm chair of Labour Housing Group for the North West of England.
This is a very strong achievement by Sadiq Khan amid all the gloom.
I wondered if this could be of interest to you as a positive news story for Labour Home ahead of the London elections?
The latest CHAIN rough sleeping data was published on Thursday here.
I keep a record of all the CHAIN stats going back to 2014.
From my records this is the largest drop in rough sleeping in a year unaffected by Covid since comparable quarterly records began back in 2014.
From my records this is also the largest percentage cut in rough sleeping since 2018 - in a year unaffected by Covid.
Homeless Link has since verified my findings but it might be worth you going back to Homeless Link personally to check.
A quote from John Glenton at Riverside based on our analysis that this is the largest cut in the number of people sleeping rough since comparable records began.
Kind regards,
Chris
John Glenton, Chief Care and Support Officer at Riverside, said:
“It is very heartening to see the largest percentage reduction in the number of people sleeping rough in London for eight years in a year unaffected by Covid.
"And the largest reduction in the number of people sleeping rough in a year unaffected by Covid since comparable records began.
“We remain hopeful that the Mayor of London’s on-going efforts to eliminate rough sleeping by 2030 will see the number of people sleeping rough in London continue to fall during 2026.
“However, to reduce rough sleeping and homelessness long-term it is crucial that the government’s Value for Money review resets homelessness funding, so more money goes to services which prevent homelessness and rough sleeping and less on temporary accommodation.”
ENDS
The last time the number of people sleeping rough in London fell by 11% in a period unaffected by Covid was January to March 2018.
In January to March 2018 the percentage of people sleeping rough in London fell by 11% but the number of people sleeping rough fell by 298.
In January to March 2026 the percentage of people sleeping rough in London fell by 11% but the number of people sleeping rough fell by 483.
Chris Walker
Managing Director
Be The Best Communications
