Number of people sleeping rough in Hackney over summer months up 44 per cent

London Assembly Member Sem Moema says people are facing ‘real hardship’. Photograph: Sem Moema

New figures show the number of people sleeping rough in Hackney during the summer was up 44 per cent on last year.

Between July and September 2021, 62 people were recorded sleeping on the borough’s streets, according to outreach workers from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN).

Over the same period this summer, the number had soared to 89.

Across the full 12 months, 221 people were counted – down on the previous year’s 350.

London Assembly Member Sem Moema, who is also Hackney’s mayoral adviser on private sector housing, warned that “the chaos caused to inflation and mortgages by the cost-of-living crisis means Londoners are facing real hardship this winter”.

She said juggling food, fuel and rent means “the threat of homelessness is hanging over too many people’s heads”.

She wants the government to step in and freeze private sector rents and put a stop to Section 21 evictions – where a landlord does not have to give a reason for asking their tenant to move out within two months.

Dubbed “no fault evictions”, these were halted during lockdown when landlords had to give three months’ notice.

According to Hackney Council, 351 households have been registered as homeless since 2020, with a further 673 claims yet to be processed.

The Town Hall hopes to complete the task by the end of the year as part of its recovery from a cyber attack on its systems in October 2020.

It has a rough sleeper outreach team that works with single people at risk of homelessness and those who use drugs or alcohol.

Other support includes a Housing First scheme, which launched in 2020 to provide homes for people with high needs.

Last year, 13,000 people were waiting on Hackney’s housing register for a council home, and fewer than 400 moved into one.

The housing department said it is seeing more people “with multiple and complex needs”.

The council warns that people without special circumstances face a wait of 20 years or longer to get the keys to a council flat.