Number of people sleeping rough in North Yorkshire rises
Official figures show around 40 people are sleeping rough in North Yorkshire every night
The number of people sleeping rough in North Yorkshire has gone up, as figures across England rise for the first time in 17 years.
A snapshot of a single night in autumn last year found 3,069 people sleeping rough, up 626 (26%) on the equivalent total for 2021 and nearly three-quarters (74%) above the level in 2010 when the figures began.
In the same period in North Yorkshire, 40 people were found sleeping rough in a single night.
The increase has been branded a "massive, collective failure" by a charity, and comes after the Government published its Ending Rough Sleeping For Good strategy in September, which restated its manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament.
The Government acknowledged that while rough sleeping "remains well below pre-pandemic levels" there is "more to do to help families at risk of losing their homes and to end rough sleeping for good".
Rick Henderson, chief executive at Homeless Link, which is the national membership charity for frontline homelessness organisations, said the rise of more than a quarter year-on-year since 2021 "is evidence of how the cost-of-living crisis has exacerbated long-standing drivers of homelessness".
He said: "Everyone deserves a safe place to live and the support they need to keep it. This shocking rise in the number of people sleeping rough represents a massive, collective failure. People are being let down by systems that should protect them, forced onto the streets at the expense of their physical and mental health.
He urged the Government to take "urgent action to keep homelessness services open" by increasing funding in line with inflation.
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "Over half a million households have been prevented from becoming homeless or supported into settled accommodation since 2018 and rough sleeping remains well below pre-pandemic levels.
"But we know there is more to do to help families at risk of losing their homes and to end rough sleeping for good."