Rough sleeping in England has risen by a fifth in a year, according to new snapshot estimates branded “devastating and shameful”.
There were an estimated 4,667 people sleeping on the streets on a single night in autumn last year, according to annual Government statistics.
This was an increase of 769 people – or 20% – on the previous year’s snapshot estimate of 3,898.
The latest figure is more than twice the number since the estimates – the latest of which are based on a single date in October or November chosen by local authorities – began being recorded in 2010, when it was 1,768.
While the latest figure remains just below the peak in 2017- when it stood at 4,751 – it is the third year in a row the number has risen.
Earlier this week the Government announced it was doubling emergency homelessness funding for councils in England to £60 million, but the national membership body for frontline homelessness charities urged a “wholesale review and reset of homelessness funding”.
Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, said: “It is beyond devastating and shameful that our society has allowed thousands upon thousands of people to face the trauma of sleeping rough across this country.”
The organisation blamed “a welfare system unfit for purpose, an acute shortage of truly affordable housing, extremely over-stretched homelessness, health and social care services and a disconnect between government policies – from hospitals and prisons discharging people onto the streets to people leaving the asylum system with nowhere to live”.
Mr Henderson added: “Homeless Link is calling for a wholesale review and reset of homelessness funding that can enable support to be turned on its head.
“We desperately need a more efficient and effective funding approach that can drive a system rooted in preventing people’s homelessness and provide support to make sure that everyone has a home and the help they need to keep it.”
Big Issue founder and crossbench peer Lord John Bird said the latest rise is “simply unacceptable” and described rough sleeping as “our nation’s biggest source of shame”.
He said while higher spend on emergency funding is welcome “it must not be mistaken for a solution to this crisis”, adding that “clever thinking, long-term investment, and collaboration on a huge scale” are needed.
The figures came as the Local Government Association (LGA) said funding changes mean councils have up to £76 million less to spend on temporary accommodation for households facing homelessness compared with last year.
It said while it is “right that the Government has increased its focus on prevention and relief of homelessness”, what it described as a “sudden shift in funding allocation” has increased the financial pressure faced by councils at a time when costs of temporary accommodation are soaring.
Adam Hug, LGA housing spokesman, said: “An uprating of the temporary accommodation subsidy is desperately needed to address the significant and growing cost pressures faced by councils.”
On Tuesday an extra £30 million in emergency funding was announced for councils in England to help keep people at risk of eviction in their homes and support rough sleepers off the streets.
The money was allocated after Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said remaining funds in her department should be directed towards tackling homelessness, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said.
The announcement amounted to a doubling of a previously-announced £30 million for winter pressures funding for homelessness.