Skip to main content
Rough sleeping on the rise in most major cities in England
Shelter chief executive Polly Neate urged the government to build three million more social homes, saying ‘you can’t solve homelessness without homes’

ROUGH SLEEPING rose in most major cities in England last year, government figures revealed yesterday, with thousands left to languish on the streets as temperatures drop below zero.  

The findings by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) showed that more than 4,600 people slept on the streets on any given night last autumn – up 165 per cent since records began in 2010.

Across England, the number of rough sleepers rose by 13 per cent in London, 60 per cent in Birmingham and 31 per cent in Manchester.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
People walk past a homeless person asleep on the street beside the entrance to Westminster underground station and in the shadows of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in central London, July 19, 2024
Housing / 8 October 2025
8 October 2025
Various For Sale, Sold and Let By estate agent signs juxtaposed next to a Dreams store in Clapham, London
Class / 18 July 2025
18 July 2025

Our housing crisis isn’t an accident – it’s class war, trapping millions in poverty while landlords and billionaires profit. To solve it, we need comprehensive transformation, not mere tokenistic reform, writes BECK ROBERTSON