A WINTER rough sleeping campaign was launched in London today as Sadiq Khan warned “unbearable” cost-of-living pressures have created a “conveyor belt” of people being forced on to the streets.

The London Mayor announced the annual push for donations to homelessness charities after Shelter warned nearly 40,000 more people are expected to spend this Christmas homeless than last year.

He said despite boosting funding for his rough sleeping budget "the stark reality is that the cost-of-living crisis is putting unbearable strain on households across the country and in the capital, causing a conveyor belt of rough sleepers on our streets. 

"Despite the huge amount of work being done in London, current national policy risks making ending rough sleeping impossible, which is why the government must urgently act to give those sleeping rough homes and hope this winter.” 

Mr Khan urged ministers to immediately freeze private-sector rents and make good on their long-promised pledge to end no-fault evictions. 

He also called for an immediate £2.2 billion funding boost for new social and “genuinely” affordable housing, as well as a strengthening of the social security safety net and stopping refugees and asylum-seekers being pushed into homelessness by pausing evictions this winter. 

The announcement came as the London Renters Union held a protest today outside SuperNova Estates in King’s Cross after the letting agent allegedly withheld £3,000 of rent paid while its tenants were no longer living at the property.

Members were forced to pay rent in three-monthly installments, but say the agent has refused to return a month of rent after they agreed with the landlord to end their tenancy early.

A spokesman for SuperNova said the outstanding rent is held by the landlord adding: “It is clear in law that the tenants had a fixed term 12-month contract and no rent needed to be refunded.”