Today, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced a new plan to end rough sleeping in the capital by 2030, with a vital focus on prevention and increasing the availability of rapid, sustainable routes away from the streets.
In his bold new approach, the Mayor has promised to work with partners including St Mungo’s to end the current requirement for Londoners to be seen bedded down on the streets before they can access support by 2028. He has also secured £17million from Government to refurbish up to 500 new empty homes as part of his Homes Off The Streets programme, which will help hundreds of people at imminent risk of rough sleeping. Working with St Mungo’s, the Mayor also committed to opening a new Ending Homelessness Hub to prevent more Londoners from sleeping rough.
His announcement comes as rough sleeping rates continue to rise in the capital. Between January to March 2025, a total of 4,427 people were recorded as rough sleeping in London – an increase of 8% on the same period last year.
Emma Haddad, Chief Executive of St Mungo’s, said: “With rough sleeping still at record highs, and more Londoners teetering on the brink of homelessness, St Mungo’s welcomes the Mayor of London’s commitment to ending rough sleeping through prevention by 2030.
Rough sleeping is a crisis and should not be a prerequisite for help. For too long, people facing homelessness have had to endure the trauma of sleeping on the streets before they can access life-saving support. Many of our clients face long-term mental and physical health needs, which can increase the risk of homelessness and make it that much harder for people to get the support they need. We’re also seeing more people locked out of an increasingly unaffordable private rental sector, exacerbated by poor supply of housing and intense demand for it.
We welcome the Mayor’s ambition to end the verification-based model for accessing help and his investment in Ending Homelessness Hubs, which will ensure St Mungo’s can be there for people before they reach these crisis points. We are proud to be playing such a central role in their delivery, which will help to reduce pressure on the frontline response.
We congratulate the Mayor and his team for working collaboratively to bring about this Action Plan that we hope will deliver tangible change to ending rough sleeping in London. We know this can only be achieved nationally and long term with a whole system approach and look to the Government to show the same commitment and efficiency when delivering and implementing their homelessness strategy.“
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “During my election campaign, I promised to develop a plan to end rough sleeping for good by 2030. I’m proud to be delivering on that promise.
We know the best way to end rough sleeping is to stop it before it starts. That’s why we’re putting prevention at the heart of our response, extending our network of Ending Homelessness Hubs, that provide 24/7 support to those most at risk of sleeping rough.
It’s why we’re launching a preventing homelessness phoneline. And it’s why we’re funding more support workers in our communities – in places like day centres and food banks.
We’re also providing people with long-term routes off the streets, through our Homes off the Streets programme. For the first time, we’re unlocking 500 empty homes, in need of refurbishment, that will be brought back into good condition and ringfenced for those that need them most.
This plan is being backed up by £17 million in additional funding, which is on top of the £10 million we announced in January this year, which was the single biggest Mayoral investment into tackling rough sleeping ever.
The last time we came close to ending rough sleeping, we had a Mayor and a Government on the same page, with the same ambition. Now, we have the opportunity to do the same again.”
