Rise in numbers sleeping rough on streets

Tony Blair's pledge to slash homelessness was undermined yesterday by figures showing the number of people sleeping on the streets of London had risen by 20 per cent.

According to Homeless Link, the body that does the Government's head count of rough sleepers, the number in the capital had risen from 205 to 255 between November 2001 and March this year.

The figures were worst in Westminster, Britain's biggest concentration of street homeless, with a 40 per cent rise in numbers sleeping outdoors.

The increase will disappoint ministers, particularly after the steady falls in homelessness achieved over the past couple of years across London and the rest of Britain.

Mr Blair hailed figures last year claiming the Government had reached its target of cutting the number of rough sleepers by two thirds. Yesterday's figures came as ministers celebrated the first day of the Homelessness Act, which will require all councils to have a strategy for tackling the problem.

More than £125m has been earmarked this year to combat homelessness and Barbara Roche, the Minister of State at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, announced a further £3m help for local authorities.

However, the Homeless Link figures show the number of people sleeping in doorways, parks or bus shelters had risen in Westminster and Lambeth, while falling slightly in Camden and the City of London. In Westminster, 169 people were identified sleeping rough, a higher figure than records for January 1998, when the Government initiative first began.

Adrian Sanders, the Liberal Democrats' housing spokesman, said the figures proved the Government still had "a long way to go" before it could claim to have got the problem under control.

He said: "A number of charities last year queried the figures and the latest head count appears to bear out their fears.

"The Government did well to provide emergency shelter and hostel places but seems to have failed to get in place the co-ordinated action to tackle hard-core long-term rough sleepers."