Number of people sleeping rough on streets soars by 73pc

MORE PEOPLE are sleeping rough on the streets of England than at any point this decade, with numbers rocketing 73 per cent since 2014, new figures show.

Local authorities estimated there were about 4,751 rough sleepers on a single night in autumn 2017, according to data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

It marks another steep rise from the year before, up 15 per cent from 2016 to the highest point since comparable records began in 2010.

In autumn 2014 the figure was nearly three quarters lower, at 2,744.

Homelessness charities condemned the trend as a “catastrophe” while calling on the Government to step up its work to end destitution.

York was shown to have the highest number of rough sleepers regionally during the count, with 29 recorded compared to the figure of two in 2010.

Tom Brittain, assistant director of housing and safer communities at City of York Council, said: “We and our partners work with rough sleepers year-round and, during the winter months, offer extra accommodation even if it’s a mattress on a hostel floor. Sadly not all will accept it. If there have been issues at one hostel, we give people second chances and find places at another one.”

Figures during the same period in Leeds have risen from six to 28. And in Hull, the figure has shot up from seven to 28 over the seven years.

Numbers in Yorkshire and the Humber overall rose 20 per cent from 172 in 2016 to 207 last year.

Leeds City Council said providing “meaningful help” to rough sleepers is “an absolute key priority”, but “due to the many complexities involved, the ongoing challenge remains” when encouraging people to take up support.

Rough sleeping continues to be most rife in London, where more than 1,137 people were recorded last year – the first time it has crept into four figures.

Polly Neate, chief executive of the Shelter charity, said: “These figures expose the worst pain inflicted by our housing crisis.”

An MHCLG spokesman said the Government is “committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027”.