Long-term rough sleeping in Havering has been “effectively brought to an end”, a committee heard.

Havering Council's assistant director of housing demand made the claim in a report to a health and wellbeing board meeting on Wednesday, January 26.

Darren Alexander told the board that the last entrenched rough sleeper – who had been staying in a salt bin by the Angel Way car park – had accepted an offer of accommodation in October.

Havering received 2,536 homelessness approaches in the 2020/21 financial year, of which 871 were caused by family or friend eviction, 390 by private eviction and 266 by domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse-related demand was 194 per cent higher for 2020/21 than for 2019/20, with December seeing demand 650pc higher in 2020 than in the year prior before the outbreak of Covid-19.

Mr Alexander noted there had been a rise in referrals from other public bodies – 235 in 2020/21 compared with 87 in 2019/20 – and particularly praised the probation service and hospitals for their support.

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