Our response to rough sleeping

People sleeping rough are highly vulnerable and require support from specialist outreach and other services. Our safeguarding team assess reports of rough sleeping from front line staff and works with the relevant support services to assist the vulnerable individuals.

We work with many support services including, but not limited to, St Mungo's, Spear London, Thames Reach, CGL, Shelter and The Passage.

How you can help

If you're concerned about someone who is sleeping rough, please visit the StreetLink website.

StreetLink is provided by Home Connections who are commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

StreetLink is a vital service in helping end rough sleeping. Its main purpose is to enable members of the public to connect people sleeping rough to support, with the aim of ending their homelessness.

The details you provide are sent to the local outreach service, to help them find the person. It is important to give detailed information to include a clear location description, clear time frame when the person was sleeping rough and a detailed person description such as what they are wearing, colour of sleeping bag and other characteristics such as height and ethnicity.  All this information helps the outreach team locate the person quickly.

Working with Thames Reach

Along with the Greater London Authority, we have commissioned Thames Reach to deliver an outreach service working exclusively on public transport. The team works every night of the week right across London's public transport system, responding to referrals from Streetlink and information provided by us.

In 2023/24 the team completed 200 outreach shifts targeting people sleeping rough on our network. A total of 90 people were accommodated directly via the team in various short or long term accommodation. A further 100+ people were assisted further by linking with external service and other outreach teams.