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London Overview

London is the capital city of England and the UK. With a population of over 7 million, London is Europe’s largest and most densely populated city with 4,679 people per square km (Office of National Statistics 2002). The London region is made up of 32 local authorities or London Boroughs and the Corporation of London.

In London, there is a severe shortage of decent, affordable housing. This is reflected in the high numbers of homeless households in temporary accommodation.

The government has introduced a range of laws and policies to help tackle homelessness. The Homelessness Act 2002 requires all local authorities to develop a homelessness strategy for their area. Each London borough has a strategy which looks at preventing homelessness and providing accommodation and support for homeless people.

Across London there are over 160 charitable organisations providing hundreds of different services to homeless people. These services include hostels and supported housing, advice and support services, and outreach teams.

Publications

Organisations range in size from small charities reliant on volunteers, to large and complex organisations employing hundreds of professional staff. See the attached State of the Sector document, for more details about the organisations that provide homelessness services in London, their services, funding, staffing and clients.

LHF's Atlas of Services for Homeless People gives details of service providers and maps services for homeless people including outreach, day centres, direct access accommodation, second stage accommodation and floating support in London.

The highest proportion of the country’s rough sleepers are in London, despite the significant reduction in recent years in the numbers of people sleeping rough across England. This has been due to initiatives and services set up to help tackle rough sleeping. The government’s latest strategy No One Left Out: Communities Ending Rough Sleeping outlines the Government’s latest action plan that aims to end rough sleeping in England by 2012. This strategy also set up the London Delivery Board to oversee action to end rough sleeping in London.

The Survey of Needs and Provision also gives information about the nature and extent of day centre, hostel and supported accommodation services in England. London's Homelessness Sector: Results of the State of the Sector Survey was based on a survey of organisations providing hostel, supported housing, day centre, floating support, advice and outreach services, it looks at where services are located and delivered, finances, staffing and clients.

Further information about publications relating to the homelessness sector in London can be found by using the Homeless Pages website.

Websites

Organisations working on homelessness strategy, policy and good practice in London include: