Charity warns of 40 per cent increase in people sleeping rough

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A survey of central London boroughs found an increase in people sleeping on the streets of nearly 40 per cent in the past six months.

Migrants from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and other former eastern bloc countries are the largest group driving the rise, says the Simon Community.

The charity found 263 rough sleepers across Westminster, Camden, Islington, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, the City, Southwark and Kensington, compared with 165 in April.

Jo Nurse, the group's community manager, said the figures revealed only the "tip of the iceberg", with its volunteers unable to record people sleeping in parks, derelict buildings or squats.

Ms Nurse said: "There's no doubt there's been an increase. Eastern European migrants are still coming to London thinking the streets are paved with gold and they will be able to get a job easily but they are the first ones to suffer when times are tough."

The charity's six full-time staff and more than 50 volunteers found 194 rough sleepers in Westminster in the count on Saturday night.

The borough traditionally has the highest figure. The City was next in the survey on 30, followed by Lambeth with 16.

The findings contradict a Westminster council report last month, which claimed the borough had recorded its lowest rough sleeper numbers in a year down from 105 in September last year to 69 last month.

Philippa Roe, Westminster's cabinet member for housing, said the local authority's street counts were "independently verified".

The charity believes homelessness is due to rise further. Ms Nurse said: "We have seen increasing numbers of men who have lost their jobs."