New rough sleeping statistics reveal appalling rises in London street homelessness
Homeless Link responds to the CHAIN 2025/26 Q3 report
On 30 January, the CHAIN (Combined Homelessness and Information Network) homelessness database published its report detailing levels of rough sleeping in London between October and December 2025. CHAIN is the UK’s most detailed and comprehensive rough sleeping database.
Key findings include:
- 4,841 people were recorded as sleeping rough in the capital in October to December 2025, an increase of 5% on the same period in the previous year.
- 2,250 people were recorded as sleeping rough for the first time in Q3, 6% higher than the same period in the previous year.
- The number of people classed as living on the streets was 830, 18% higher than the same period in the previous year and 9% higher than July-September 2025.
Fiona Colley, Director of Social Change at Homeless Link, the national membership body for frontline homelessness services, said:
“Rough sleeping in our capital city is reaching appallingly high levels.”
“Today’s further rise in the numbers must serve as a sombre reminder that tonight far too many of our fellow citizens will have their lives severely damaged, and in too many cases shortened, by being forced to sleep on the streets.”
“2026 must be the year we turn the corner on shameful levels of rough sleeping. London’s ambitious Rough Sleeping Plan of Action is now up and running, and the recently launched National Plan to End Homelessness commits the Westminster government to halving long-term rough sleeping by the end of the Parliament.”
“We now need a concerted effort at a national and local level to deliver both immediate and long-term solutions to unacceptable levels of homelessness. It's time to move from strategy to delivery."
