The Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain) statistics counted 1,762 people sleeping rough for the first time between January and March – a 15% fall year-on-year. Just over three quarters spent one night on the streets.
A total of 641 people were recorded as living on the streets long-term, down 9% on the same period last year and 23% lower than in October to December 2025.
Khan, who is marking 10 years as mayor next month, revealed his ‘plan of action’ to end rough sleeping in London by 2030 in May last year, promising to focus on prevention.
The London mayor announced refurbishment of up to 500 new empty homes, a new Ending Homelessness Hub and a dedicated rough sleeping prevention phone line. The plan was backed with £17 million in government funding.
Rick Henderson, CEO at Homeless Link, said the plan “likely played a role in this change” and described the falling figures as “encouraging”.
“The numbers of people sleeping rough remain extremely high,” said Henderson.
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“Years of stagnant funding and real-term cuts have pushed vital homelessness services to breaking point. This is leaving many people without critical support and exposing them to the trauma of sleeping rough.
“It is essential that the government supports the mayor’s plan, protecting services by ensuring they have the necessary funding to keep their doors open, providing a lifeline for vulnerable people.”
But the number of people sleeping rough in London reached record highs in 2025. Annual Chain figures counted 13,231 people homeless on the streets between April 2024 and March 2025 – higher than at any point on record.
While numbers fell across London between January and March this year, some boroughs recorded rises, including Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich and Hackney. Hackney saw the largest increase, with a 56% rise in the number of people rough sleeping compared to the same time last year, Crisis analysis found.
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Crisis chief executive Matt Downie said: “We are very pleased to see the fall in rough sleeping figures in London, and now need to build on this success by tackling pressures in temporary accommodation.
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“The single biggest intervention the Westminster government could do right now to prevent rising homelessness across the board is to unfreeze housing benefit. This will make private rent homes more affordable for people on lower incomes and offer hope for those deeply worried about keeping a roof over their heads.”
Today’s falling numbers are a boost to Sadiq Khan’s ambitions to address rough sleeping in the English capital.
But London remains England’s homelessness hotspot. Separate government homelessness statistics, released on the same day, showed 75,600 households were living in temporary accommodation in the English capital as of the end of 2025.
That’s 56% of the 134,210 households living in temporary accommodation across the whole of England.
Jo Carter, CEO of Glass Door Homeless Charity, which operates homeless shelters in London, said the Renters’ Rights Act’s ban on no-fault evictions won’t be enough to reduce street homelessness on its own.
The long-awaited legislation comes into force tomorrow (1 May) and the Labour government hopes it will prevent homelessness.
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“The latest figures on rough sleeping in London highlight the worrying situation we find ourselves in ahead of the first provisions of the Renters’ Rights Act coming into effect,” said Carter.
“From tomorrow, the end of section 21 evictions will give renters greater security – a change which took years of campaigning and is worth celebrating. Unfortunately, on its own this will not be enough to stop homelessness from increasing.”
Carter said Glass Door’s emergency winter night shelters received more than 1,300 applications for spaces over the winter but were forced to close registrations due to the high level of demand.
She added: “Action from the government to prevent people from needing services like ours could not be more urgent.
“The Renters’ Rights Act represents a positive step forward, but needs to be followed up with a serious plan for tackling housing affordability and dramatically expanding the supply of social housing. If this happens, we can start to make statistics like today’s a thing of the past.”
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