Number of people sleeping rough in London

Last updated: July 2025
Next estimated update: July 2026

What does this indicator show?

This indicator shows the total number of people seen sleeping rough in London, by year. This information comes from CHAIN, a database about people sleeping rough in London maintained by charity outreach workers. It contains a record for everyone known to staff and volunteers throughout the specified year.

Further down the page you’ll find the number of people sleeping rough in London by ethnicity and gender.

What does it tell us?

More than 13,000 people were seen sleeping rough in London in 2024/25 - the highest on record. This is almost 4x higher than 15 years ago, in 2008/2009, and a 10% increase on last year.

People sleeping rough by ethnicity

White people are the largest single ethnic group of rough sleepers (5,567). However, the proportion of rough sleepers who are white has declined significantly from 71% in 2011/12 to 46% in 2024/25.

There has been a corresponding increase in the number of rough sleepers from minority ethnic backgrounds who form the majority (53%) of rough sleepers in London.  

Black people make up 27% of rough sleepers in the capital - up from 13% a decade ago and 15% 5 years ago.

People sleeping rough by gender

A large majority (82%) of people sleeping rough in London are men. Since 2011/12 the number of female rough sleepers has more than tripled.

Want to know more?

If you want to explore this data in more depth, check the 'data source and notes' button on the above charts. This will tell you where the data comes from, where you may be able to dig deeper.