Reduction in rough sleepers

The number of people permanently sleeping rough on the streets of London has more than halved after a three-year drive against homelessness, according to figures today.

Now only 264 people are registered homeless in the capital, down from 621 in 1998, but the task facing Government's Rough Sleepers Unit in London is still much greater than anywhere else.

Cambridge and Liverpool, which have the largest numbers of rough sleepers outside of London, have just 19 people on their streets.