THE variety of rough-sleepers in England had risen last autumn by 171 per cent since 2010 — a rise that needs to be seen as a “wake-up call”, the Christian homelessness charity Housing Justice says.
The report Rough Sleeping Snapshot in England: Autumn 2025 estimates that that is the fourth annual increase in a row: three per cent on 2024. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published the figures on Thursday.
Across England, 4793 people slept rough on a single night last autumn, compared with 4667 for a similar period the previous 12 months. The figure has reached a “record high”, exceeding the previous peak of 4751 in 2017, the report says.
Housing Justice on Thursday expressed concern in regards to the figures, describing them as “a wake-up call to the Government and wider homelessness sector that far more must be done to strengthen prevention efforts alongside supporting those already at crisis point”.
The report says that 43 per cent of all rough-sleepers on a single night last autumn were in London and the south-east. The north-west of England experienced the biggest regional increase: 20 per cent, from 367 in 2024 to 441 in 2025.
Decreases were recorded in Yorkshire and the Humber area (15 per cent), London (three per cent), and the East Midlands (two per cent), the report says.
As in previous years, a lot of the rough-sleepers were male, over 26, and from the UK. The variety of female rough-sleepers had risen by eight per cent since 2024.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced plans to tackle homelessness with greater than £50 million in funding over the subsequent three years to councils and front-line homelessness services.
The funding will likely be divided between various programmes. The Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund has received £37 million, a lot of the allocation. This money “will supercharge the work of voluntary, community and faith groups, often the primary port of call for people in crisis”, the Government says.
An extra £15 million is for the Long-Term Rough Sleeping Innovation Programme, which is to focus on 28 areas under the worst long-term pressure, including London. The Government’s National Plan to End Homelessness includes three pledges to be achieved by the tip of this Parliament: to halve long-term rough sleeping, to finish the illegal use of B&Bs for families, and to stop more households’ becoming homeless in the primary place.
The chief executive of Housing Justice, Bonnie Williams, expressed disappointment at the rise in rough sleeping. “After years of growing numbers, we very much hope that this 12 months will likely be a turning point,” she said on Thursday. “The underlying pressures that drive homelessness haven’t disappeared, and, while rough sleeping is essentially the most visible type of homelessness, it is just a part of the image. The record numbers of households in temporary accommodation show just what number of families live in limbo.”
She welcomed the Government’s strategy, “particularly its stronger emphasis on prevention and early intervention. Preventing people from reaching crisis point, improving pathways out of temporary accommodation, and strengthening partnership working across housing, health, and native government will likely be essential if we’re to see sustained change.
“The dedicated Ending Homelessness in Communities Funding can also be a positive step. It has the potential to enable the voluntary, community, and faith sector to play a fair greater role in the answer, providing compassionate, relational support that helps people move from crisis to stability, sustain tenancies, and rebuild fulfilling lives inside their communities. We hope that this renewed give attention to prevention and community-based solutions will mean that this time next 12 months we see a major and sustained reduction in rough sleeping.
“What we now need is sustained collaboration between Government, local authorities, and community organisations to be sure that progress is maintained and that homelessness becomes rarer, briefer, and non-recurring.”
