£10 million to tackle rough sleeping in London

The Mayor of London has announced the biggest ever single investment to tackle rough sleeping in the capital.

The latest data from City Hall shows a 20 per cent annual increase in the number of people on London's streets.

An extra £10 million has been added to the Mayor's rough sleeping budget, with a focus on prevention as well as cure.

The money will be used to expand a network of ‘Ending Homelessness Hubs' - safe places for people sleeping rough for the first time to be assessed by professional teams, so that plans can be made quickly to support them away from the streets in the long-term.

The hubs build on the success of the Mayor’s four existing ‘No Second Night Out’ (NSNO) services, through which charity partner St Mungo’s deliver 24/7 specialist care and support for Londoners sleeping rough. The support includes help reconnecting service users with their families and friends, advice on what financial support they may be entitled to.

The expansion will establish an Ending Homelessness Hub for every sub-region of the capital, with a fifth hub set to open in early 2026, to help an additional 500 people per year.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I’m committed to putting London on a pathway to ending rough sleeping for good by 2030, which is why today I’m delivering an additional £10m in funding – the biggest ever single investment – to help more Londoners build their lives away from the streets.

“Tackling the capital’s rough sleeping crisis won’t be easy, but I’m confident it can be done with strong leadership and a clear vision for how to get there, backed by the Government and wider society.

“My Plan of Action on rough sleeping, due to be published this spring, will build on the huge amount of work we’ve done over the years to tackle this vital issue. As well as taking more people of the streets now, a stronger focus on prevention will help us to end rough sleeping as we continue to build a better, fairer London for everyone.”

The Mayor of Lewisham, Brenda Dacres, added: “Spaces like the No Second Night Out hub are absolutely vital in our efforts to end homelessness.

“This new funding from the Mayor of London will help to expand services to support people facing homelessness here in Lewisham and across London.

“We are facing a housing and homelessness crisis; boroughs can’t tackle this alone, and we welcome this funding to support councils and charities to help people when they need it most.”