HOMELESSNESS charities urged David Cameron to put his money where his mouth is yesterday after government figures revealed an unprecedented increase in rough sleeping in England.

The Department for Communities and Local Government report found the number of street sleepers has double since the Conservatives took power.

Umbrella body Homeless Link argued that the figure would have been much higher had it not been for temporary accommodation offered by homelessness charities across the country.

The group’s chief executive Rick Henderson said: “It is understandable that many people will focus exclusively on today’s latest statistic, but it’s worth considering how much higher that figure might have been without the support and innovation of frontline homelessness services.

“When the right local services are in place to help people off the streets as quickly as possible, we know it is possible to turn this situation around.”

The government’s 2012 pledge to end rough sleeping was left high and dry after a £20 million programme of grants for homelessness charities dried up last March.

Mr Henderson warned that the “future for many homelessness services locally remains uncertain.

“They face a range of pressures, including reduced local authority funding, substantial changes to the welfare system and a housing crisis in many parts of the country.

“When combined, these factors present a clear threat to our vision of ending homelessness through innovative homelessness services.”

Last autumn, an average of 3,569 people a night were found sleeping rough in England, a 30 per cent increase on the previous year. In 2010, the number was just over 1,700.

Shadow housing minister John Healy said the figures were “the starkest possible reminder of Conservative ministers’ five years of failure on housing.

“People will find it extraordinary that, in England in the 21st century, the number of people forced to sleep rough is going up — and this is only the tip of the iceberg.

“The first step ministers must now take is to exempt homelessness accommodation and other specialist housing from the Chancellor’s crude housing benefit cuts, which are set to close thousands of hostels and make the problem of rough sleeping even worse.

“Beyond that, these figures must be a wake-up call to ministers to change tack and adopt a more balanced set of housing plans.”