April 16th 2024
Mayor of London pledges to end homelessness under one condition
Sadiq Khan has promised to end homelessness in the capital city if he is re-elected next month. However, he said his plans will only be successful if he works alongside a Labour government.
With just over two weeks until local elections commence, yesterday, 15th April 2024, Sadiq Khan made a speech in Waterloo in which he promised to end rough sleeping in London by 2030 if he is re-elected as the Mayor.
Speaking at St John’s church, Mr Khan claimed he would work to create more rough sleeping hubs and strengthen relationships between boroughs, businesses and charities. In addition, he followed up his vow with a promise of £10m extra spending over the next three years on top of City Hall’s current annual homeless budget of some £36m. This promise comes as the number of people sleeping rough in London has hit new record highs.
According to the latest figures, 4,389 people were found to be sleeping on the streets between October 2023 and January 2024 – compared with 2,561 in 2016, before Mr Khan was elected.
By 2021, after a year of Mr Khan being in post, the number of people sleeping rough in London had fallen by 19% year-on-year.
In his speech, Sadiq Khan said that the reason for having a 2030 deadline to end homelessness was because the promise had been ‘synced’ up with national rather than mayoral politics.
Mr Khan said: ‘It’s possible the general election won’t be until January 2024. The parliamentary term is five years, and so we’ve synced the pledge with the next Labour government’s timelines.’
Against this backdrop, Mr Khan has pinpointed the delay in banning no-fault evictions as one of the root causes as to why so many people have tragically resulted to sleeping on the streets.
‘The causes of rough sleeping we can’t deal with without a change of government,’ Mr Khan remarked. ‘We know the causes of rough sleeping. One out of four people sleeping rough was formerly a tenant in private accommodation – that’s why ‘no fault’ evictions have got to go.’
The mayor added: ‘We also know some of the welfare benefits changes made by the Government have been a source for those sleeping rough. That’s got to go as well.
‘If there’s a Labour Government, we’ll have 1.5 million new homes [over five years] across the country. [We’ll get a] big chunk of those in London.
‘In relation to landlord licensing, if we had a Labour government, we could have better quality accommodation across London, which would make it less likely for people to have to leave their homes.’
However, Susan Hall, Conservative mayoral candidate, has branded the pledge as ‘another promise that Sadiq Khan will fail to deliver.’
Ms Hall said: ‘Given his appalling record on housing. Sadiq Khan has only started building 4% of the affordable homes he promised in the latest programme, and it is his failure that has kept people stuck in temporary accommodation and made it harder to get rough sleepers off the streets.’
The latest data from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN), which provides quarterly and annual statistics on rough sleeping in the city, found that 1,070 of the individuals spotted on the streets between January and March this year were in and around the West End boroughs of Camden and Westminster.
Following Sadiq Khan’s announcement, various industry experts have voiced their opinions including John Glenton, executive director of care and support at Riverside, who has claimed that the pledge is promising and exactly what the city needs right now.
‘It is heartening to hear Sadiq Khan’s commitment to end rough sleeping,’ John said. ‘The latest rough sleeping figures for October to December 2023 showed we had the largest number of people sleeping rough on the streets of our capital ever recorded during a quarterly period with 4,389 people identified as sleeping rough.’
John claimed: ‘These figures demonstrate a growing humanitarian crisis on the streets of London.
‘We wholeheartedly agree with Sadiq’s plan to expand the number of rough sleeping hubs in London and his aim to strengthen relationships with boroughs, charities and businesses to achieve this aim.’
The government have issued a final warning for residents looking to take part in local elections as registrations to vote closes at midnight tonight. Local elections are due to start on 2nd May 2024.
Image: chan lee
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