Newcomers imperil Westminster target

About 65 new people are ending up on the streets of Westminster each month, threatening the council’s target to reduce rough sleeper numbers to below 100.

Westminster’s latest figure is 156 rough sleepers – and it is estimated that about one-third of them are eastern European. The borough has the highest number of rough sleepers in the UK.

Janet Haddington, manager of rough sleeping and street activity, said the council had more rough sleepers in one night than any other borough has in a month. “It’s like a rough sleepers’ airport,” she added.

Ellen Flynn, the director of the Passage day centre, said she was concerned that east European rough sleepers were becoming victims of racism and violence on the streets.