What the Mayor is doing to tackle rough sleeping

The Mayor is taking both immediate and long-term action through his Life Off the Streets programme to get rough sleepers the support they need.

The Mayor’s Life off the Streets services helped 5,455 people between March and December 2019.

Immediate support

• Opening additional emergency shelter, in partnership with London boroughs, when temperatures fall below zero.
• Doubling the number of his street outreach workers last winter.
• Including a rapid response team as part of his street outreach to get to rough sleepers sooner.
• Providing immediate accommodation to new rough sleepers through his No Second Night Out service.
• Launching mobile homelessness hubs in areas where there is a sudden rise in rough sleeping.
• Working with Veterans Aid to help over 300 veterans at risk of homelessness get off the streets.
• Funding a shelter for LGBTQI+ people in crisis to help prevent them ending up on the streets.
• Helping reconnect rough sleepers to their local area elsewhere in the UK.
• Opening shelters throughout winter, including 300 more beds than last year in January and February through the Winter Programme Fund.

Longer term support

• Doubling our budget for rough sleeping services to £18 million
• Investing over £1 billion to fund 11,000 new council homes for social rent to help address the long-term causes of rough sleeping and the broader housing crisis
• Working with London’s councils on the In for Good programme, to ensure that no one in a severe weather emergency shelter leaves without an offer away from the streets
• Providing 3,700 low rent homes in London for former rough sleepers, supported by the Mayor’s Tenancy Sustainment Teams, to help people live independently
• Using social impact bonds to fund service providers, helping long-term rough sleepers into accommodation
• Calling on government to invest more in tackling the root causes of homelessness, such as welfare cuts and the lack of affordable housing

Read more about the Mayor’s Rough Sleeping services.