Today’s official stats on the number of people seen sleeping rough in London show:

4,612 people were seen sleeping rough between October and December 2024 – a 5% increase of on the same quarter last year

414 of these were young people aged 25 and under – a 10% increase on the year before

Centrepoint spokespeople available for interview.

Dr Thomas Kerridge, Centrepoint’s Policy and Research Manager said: “It never gets any easier to see these numbers and know that hundreds of young people had no other option but to sleep on the streets. Some will be incredibly vulnerable and could well be legally entitled to more support than they’re getting, as the increase in the number of care leavers experiencing homelessness might attest.

“The government has invested in winter provision for rough sleepers over the last month, but it should be clear by now that piecemeal funding is not enough to get people off the streets and, just as importantly, stop them falling into homelessness in the first place.

“With the government’s homelessness strategy set to conclude in the coming months there is cause to be hopeful that a longer-term approach could see positive change. That said, it’s still unclear how young people will figure in this work, despite the increasing numbers seen sleeping rough in the capital.”