Housing Justice finds more than 200 rough sleepers in Westminster

Christian homeless support charity, Housing Justice, found 206 people sleeping rough in Westminster, central London, in its latest count by volunteers in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Local government regularly conducts counts of people sleeping rough on the streets, often in partnership with the voluntary sector, to compare homelessness levels over a period of time.

Churches sometimes carry out their own local street counts if there are discrepencies between the council's official figures and the numbers of homeless people they encounter in their area on a daily basis.

Alison Gelder, chief executive of Housing Justice, said, "We thought it was important to carry out an independent impromptu street count ahead of the next official Borough of Westminster count.

"We don't doubt the integrity of the official counters but we do believe that our volunteers have provided a true snapshot of rough sleeping in the borough - something that can act as a baseline for the official count."

Helping Housing Justice carry out the count were more than 30 volunteers from a range of organisations, including the Simon Community and The Salvation Army.

Sally Leigh, London coordinator of Housing Justice and lead organiser of the count, said, "Some of the most useful people on our team used to be homeless on the streets in Westminster. They guided us to find the places where people sleep at night. Their help was invaluable."

Other organisations to take part in the count included popular London churches Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church and ASLAN (All Souls, Langham Place), Finchley Churches Together Winter Shelter, CARIS Islington Churches Cold Weather Shelter, Open House Film Club and White Box Digital.