A homeless person asleep on the street beside the entrance to Westminster underground station and in the shadows of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in central London, July 19, 2024
THE number of young people sleeping rough in London has jumped by 30 per cent in a year, new data suggested today.
The New Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain) recorded that it had seen 4,427 sleeping rough between January and March 2025 — an 8 per cent increase compared to the same quarter last year.
Out of these, 477 were young people aged 25 and under, marking a 30 per cent increase.
Dr Lisa Doyle, of homeless charity Centrepoint, said: “While we wait for the government’s ending homelessness strategy, and despite election commitments and record funding announcements, rough sleeping has continued to increase in the capital.
“We have seen over several years that piecemeal funding can only go so far in supporting people off the streets and, without a strategy, the government is asking councils to deal with a seemingly ever-increasing level of demand.
“The mayor, councils and charities can’t respond to this crisis on their own.
“We now need ministers to move quickly and provide the long-term vision and funding settlement needed to get people off the streets and to stop them ending up there in the first place.”
