“Those things will help. Actually what we need is to support families early on so they don’t have a situation where child poverty is going up, people are ending up sofa surfing and so forth.
“That’s the prize of growth. If we get growth it helps jobs and prosperity and supports families.”
When asked if that meant progress in 2025, Khan added: “I think you’ll start seeing progress, there will be milestones along the way. We’re in 2025 now, I think things are going to get worse this year but things will improve by next year.”
Sadiq Khan previously warned that rough sleeping levels will get worse before they get better back in October when the most recent statistics showed a record-high number of people on London’s streets.
A total of 4,780 rough sleepers were counted by frontline workers between July and September last year. That was the highest quarterly figure recorded by the Chain statistics – up 18% on the same period last year and 13% higher than the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, recent City Hall data showed a 20% increase in the number of people on the streets for the first time.
But Khan insisted his latest £10m funding package will keep the mayor on track to hit his 2030 target.
The money will be used to transform and expand a network of ending homelessness hubs across the capital, providing 24/7 specialist support for people new to rough sleeping and prevention services.
The hubs will act as safe places for people sleeping rough for the first time to be assessed by professional teams through charity partner St Mungo’s so that plans can be made quickly to support them away from the streets in the long-term.
The funding is set to establish a fifth ending homelessness hub by 2026 to help an additional 500 people per year and ensure every sub-region of the capital is covered.
The extra funds will also provide the resources needed to bring more homes into the mayor’s Homes Off the Street scheme, including to provide Housing First homes for rough sleepers.
Much like the Labour government, Sadiq Khan stressed the need for focus on prevention.
That will see changes to homelessness services to ensure teams will step in and provide support to high-risk Londoners before they spend a first night on the streets.
These changes will be rolled out in co-ordination with London boroughs and the wider homelessness sector, and could see Ending Homelessness Hubs taking referrals from trusted partners such as day centres, even if individuals have not previously slept rough but are at immediate risk of doing so.
Khan told the Big Issue: “The real prize is the funding we’ll give to advisors to give prevention advice to those who are on the cusp of being made homeless and avoid ending up on our streets.
“So we’re thinking about those who may be attending a day centre, really worried about a section 21 eviction they’ve received, really worried because they’ve lost their job, really worried because the sofa they have been surfing on is no longer available.
“We’ll be able to give them advice in relation to what they are able to do to stay off the streets and stay in housing.”
Sadiq Khan is set to publish in the spring what he described as the “final piece of the jigsaw” with an action plan to set out the pathway to end rough sleeping by 2030.
Emma Haddad, chief executive of St Mungo’s, said: “With the capital seeing some of the highest rates of people rough sleeping, we welcome the mayor of London’s focus on preventing homelessness.
“This investment in new hubs will help us be there for people before they end up sleeping rough. Shifting the dial to prevention brings us closer to our goal of ending homelessness for good, meaning fewer people relying on emergency accommodation in an already creaking housing system.”
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