Mayor launches agency for rough sleepers

Boris Johnson today launched an agency which aims to end rough sleeping in the capital.

The London Delivery Board will co-ordinate actions of councils, charities, the NHS and the Prison Service to try to get people off the streets.

The board, chaired by the Mayor's director of housing, Richard Blakeway, will create a protocol encouraging agencies to work more closely together.

Measures being considered include freeing up some of the 2,800 hostel places by moving those sufficiently independent into private rented accommodation. The NHS will be encouraged to visit hostels rather than risk residents missing appointments.

It is estimated that £65 million is spent looking after rough sleepers in London, but sometimes tasks are duplicated and money misdirected.

Half of the country's rough sleepers are in the capital, some 3,000 people a year.