The number of homeless people in England who sleep rough has increased by 26% in 2022, compared to figures for 2021, according to government data released on Tuesday. Based on an annual census, 3,069 people slept rough in England last year. This is almost three quarters more than in 2010, when the first edition of this census was carried out by the authorities each year on a single night.
During the pandemic and the confinements, the authorities had released funds to temporarily house almost all the homeless people sleeping on the street (“rough sleeping”). The sharp increase in the number of people on the streets last year has been described as “shocking” and a “resounding collective failure” by a homeless NGO, Homeless Link.
In London, “alarming” figures
She adds that the massive year-on-year increase in this figure “is proof that the cost of living crisis is exacerbating the long-term factors that are causing people to be homeless and have to sleep rough”. such as a shortage of affordable housing, an “often punitive” public support system and an incredibly strained healthcare system.
“At the same time, constant financial pressures mean that hundreds of homeless services across the country are on the verge of closing,” Homeless Link added in a statement, calling for more government funding to address the issue. . The increase was observed in all English regions but particularly in the capital (+34%, or 858 people), yet one of the richest cities in the world.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the figures were “extremely alarming and further evidence of the devastating fallout from the cost of living crisis”. He is calling on the UK government to reform legislation whereby landlords can for now evict tenants for no reason. It also calls for more investment in social housing. The British Conservative government has promised a reform of the rental market which has been repeatedly delayed and which must end the right to evict without good reason.