Homelessness in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea disproportionately affects Global Majority communities, according to the Ambition 4 Review: We Have a Good Quality Home report discussed at the Westminster Health & Wellbeing Board meeting on Thursday. The report, available on the Westminster City Council website here, highlights that 76% and 73% of residents in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, respectively, who are owed a prevention or relief duty, come from these communities.
The report also notes that 9 in 10 single parent households owed a relief duty are single mothers in both boroughs. The board convened to discuss strategies for early intervention and support for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Westminster faces particular challenges, hosting the highest number of rough sleepers in London. In the fourth quarter of 2024/25, 1001 people were found sleeping rough in Westminster, compared to 81 in Kensington and Chelsea. As the transport hub for the capital, Westminster is most exposed to changing national and international context, particularly within the rough sleeping cohort. The report also notes the devastating impact of rough sleeping on health, with the average age of death for a street homeless male being 45 and a street homeless female being 43.
The report identifies several factors contributing to homelessness, including poverty, domestic violence, unaffordable housing, unemployment, and discrimination. It also highlights the increasing number of people finding themselves without a stable place to live or in temporary accommodation provided by local authorities.
Westminster's approach to tackling homelessness is based on improving outcomes for people experiencing homelessness through building community resilience, with shared ownership embedded across the whole system. Kensington and Chelsea's key priorities include preventing homelessness through early intervention, providing suitable accommodation for homeless households, and reducing and working towards eliminating rough sleeping.
The Ambition 4 Review report identifies opportunities for housing and health services to collaborate, including delivering the Westminster City Council (WCC) Homelessness and Rough Sleeping strategy, the upcoming reprocurement of Westminster's support services and accommodation for people sleeping rough, and the planned refresh of Kensington and Chelsea's Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy.
The report also detailed prevention and support services in both Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster. In Westminster, these include:
- The Rough Sleeping Support Service, which provides support from Passage House and accommodation placements in two high support hostels, Edward Alsop Court and King George's Hostel.
- The Transitional Housing Approach (THA) support and move on service.
- The Floating Support Service.
- The Mental Health supported accommodation pathway.
The Fairer Futures Board has been established and will drive activity that supports the Council's strategic ambitions to tackling homelessness, as expressed in Fairer Westminster. The Board will take a leadership role in championing the Strategy and use their part as stakeholders and partners in various spaces across the system to maintain visibility. The Board acts co-productively, involving those with lived experience and insight as equal partners in the business of the Board and is also committed to working to create systems change that impact on the systemic drivers of homelessness.
