New Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first-day pledge “to end long-term rough sleeping across the UK” is interesting, not only for confronting head-on a persistent and complex problem that shames our society, but also in choosing one which is at its most acute in London.
Rough sleeping is the most visible symptom of a system in crisis. On one night in autumn last year there were 1,277 people recorded as sleeping on the capital’s streets, around 27 per cent of the total number in England. These figures have more or less trebled (both in London and nationwide) since 2010, with a decrease during the pandemic when space was found in hotels to get “everyone in”. A different survey found that around 13,000 people were sleeping rough in London during the course of 2025/26.
As the Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Plan of Action (published in May last year) observes, London’s numbers are high not only because people in crisis often move to the capital when they have nowhere else to go and because London is a first port of call for many migrants, but also because other parts of the system are under such intense strain. London’s local authorities have a duty to prevent homelessness but have to deal with many more households in need than in other parts of the country: 55 per cent of English households in temporary accommodation are in London and 59 per cent of those with children.
This massive caseload means that councils’ ability to intervene to prevent homelessness, or to help those who are not defined as in “priority need”, is constrained. It also results in London boroughs placing more people in temporary accommodation in other towns and cities, causing additional stress for homeless people and knock-on effects for housing availability outside the capital. There is no way to tackle the crisis nationally without tackling it in London.
The exceptionally high number of households being supported in temporary accommodation (75,000 in London towards the end of 2025) is in turn a symptom of the deepening unaffordability of private rented accommodation and the shortage of other move-on options for people living in B&Bs or hostels. London Councils research from 2024 found that only five per cent of London rental listings were affordable to people receiving housing benefits (compared to the 30 per cent that are meant to be).
Through a system-wide approach to these interlocked crises, the Mayor’s plan sets out an objective for 2030, which reflects ambition but also reality: “We will aim to prevent rough sleeping wherever possible, and where it does occur we will aim to make it rare, brief and not repeated.”
The plan seeks a boost to provision of affordable and specialist housing supply to enable people to find sustainable and affordable homes. In the medium-term, it argues for local housing allowances that reflect the price of private renting in London, so that people are not evicted for being unable to afford their rent. And in the immediate term, it proposes better co-ordination between public services and voluntary organisations, simpler ways for people at risk to access services before they end up on the street, and targeted support for vulnerable people such as migrants and those leaving prisons and hospitals.
There is, of course, a list of “asks” for central government. I suspect Andy Burnham knows that other cities and city authorities are dusting down their own lists following his remarks on Monday. The problem is, many of those requests involve more money (for housebuilding, for housing benefits, for local authority services) in the short-term with longer-term returns on that investment quite possibly enabling savings in the long-term, though these might benefit other departmental budgets, be elusive or difficult to clearly quantify.
Burnham may already be hearing Whitehall whispers that his pledge can only be delivered by a major new national programme co-ordinated across different government departments with which he can be personally associated. This would entail grants being distributed to local authorities for delivering a package of reforms that central government experts think will make a difference. He should ignore ignore these voices, and instead devolve faster and further, so that London and other big cities can make the necessary changes themsleves.
The Greater London Authority’s integrated funding settlement for the next three years already includes more than £100 million for homelessness, rough sleeping and supported housing services. Tying this in with welfare payments, with health services, with prisons and probation budgets offers the opportunity to share investment, risk and returns. More importantly, it could save more people from the trauma, danger and indignity of having to sleep on London’s streets.
Follow Richard Brown on Bluesky. Photo by Omar Jan.
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