On a strip of cold concrete tunnel in Central London, a man unzips his tent and shuffles out. He is tall and well-dressed and appears unfazed by the hordes of cyclists in suits zooming past him as he straightens up.
It is Friday evening and like many living rough along Castle Baynard Street in the City of London, he is getting ready to escape the chaos of the night ahead. He grabs a bottle of softener from his tent, which reeks of mothballs and is neatly packed with piles of old newspaper, and makes off for the nearest exit.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) stops him and asks how he ended up on the streets. In a terse voice, he tells us his story “doesn’t matter” – a response we hear from others time and time again during weeks of visits to the makeshift homeless encampment, where people feel like forgotten members of society.
Rough sleepers have flooded Castle Baynard Street with tents and makeshift kitchens in an image that could ripped straight from a Dickens novel. Its transient population, mostly consisting of asylum seekers, wonder when their next meal will come or whether they’ll be harassed by passers-by while London’s financial centre ticks on as normal above them.
The juxtaposition between have and have-nots can at times be jarring. Nearby is St Paul’s Cathedral with its astounding architecture, scores of tourists, and patchwork of prime restaurants and cafes. To the east is Southwark Bridge and to the west is Blackfriars Bridge, which are often full of commuters, while across the river is Shakespeare’s Globe. In a sad irony, the international headquarters for the Salvation Army is located above the tunnel.
But to many of those pitched in tents, these monuments mean nothing to them. Instead, those the LDRS spoke to were more concerned about being robbed. One rough sleeper, who calls himself Arthur, said his belongings had been taken several times. He said: “Tents get stolen by other homeless people. This is my third tent. My clothes, they get stolen too.”
Arthur, who is originally from Ethiopia, said he became homeless after being kicked out of a flat he was renting with a friend who he claimed stopped paying rent. He said despite being here legally, charities and local authorities have been unable to help him find long-term accommodation.
Another, called James, said he had been homeless for a year. He was asked to leave a flat he was renting in Peterborough after his roommate passed away and now lives in a walkway off Castle Baynard Street. The well-spoken and primly-dressed man said he has lived in the UK for 29 years but has no passport. He claims to be from Sierra Leone and claims he left the country to study engineering in Britain.
James said living in the underway is “chaos”. He said: “People come and shout at night. They shout ‘go home’. Some people even pee on the stairs next to us.”
Bill, 30, came from Tunisia two years ago. He is waiting for a decision on an appeal against his asylum application. He claims he will be killed if he is forced back to Tunisia. Hash came from Brazil in the hopes of becoming a lorry driver but said he couldn’t sit the test because he doesn’t speak English.
He claims to have an Italian passport and says he is here legally. He said he lived in a flat in Brixton but was forced out after losing his job. He now works as a porter in a nearby restaurant and is saving money to make his way to Japan, where he says he has family.
Geoff, not his real name, has been living on Castle Baynard Street for three years but has been homeless for at least 16 years. He catches us as we leave the tunnel and welcomes us back to his tent for a chat.
He is sitting on a scrunched-up sleeping bag when he tells us he is originally from Birmingham and was kicked out of home by his step-father. He said he was secretly allowed back in by his mother, who offered him a spot in the attic on the condition he never came out when her husband was home or told anyone he was living there.
Geoff takes a moment to collect himself. He looks around his tent, which has a small gas stove in one corner and gas canisters in another. He considers himself lucky because he has a cooker.
Geoff said he moved to Castle Baynard Street because it provides shelter from the elements but finds the noise created by cyclists and pedicabs unbearable. He said: “The pedicab drivers put their music on and intentionally put it loud. I’ve had others yell and shout at me and say they do it because we’re homeless.”
He, too, said his tent has been spat on by passers by, adding: “Since being here, I’ve not slept. There is so much noise. I think I’ve become an insomniac.”
The 31-year-old also said many of those living around him drink or take Spice, a synthetic drug, and heroin. He said his neighbours regularly fight and claims to have recently witnessed a man get stabbed in the neck which happened on Castle Baynard Street on September 18.
He said: “It’s dangerous living here. The people around here can get weird. If you start hanging out with those people, they try to bully you and try to take your money.”
To keep clean, Geoff uses the shower at a nearby PureGym, which he has a membership to. To make ends meet, he works two to three days a week as a delivery driver and stashes his bike away when he’s done.
He, like others along the street, visits local rough sleeping charities such as The Connection at St Martin’s-in-the-Field for food and to charge his phone. He has also been placed in hostels by two London councils but felt unsafe and returned to the street.
For Geoff, the summer can be tough because of the volume of cyclists coming through at night but he admits winter is far worse. He said: “Last year, it was so cold that my feet froze. I couldn’t walk for two to three days.”
He said when temperatures drop, he wraps himself in blankets and hides away in his tent, which he calls his ‘palace’, for hours. When asked how he manages, Geoff looks at his tent and said: “I just go through it and I leave the rest to what destiny brings.”
Stephanie Ratcliffe from St Mungo’s homeless charity said there has been a 20% rise in new rough sleepers in the last year which she believes is likely being driven by the cost of living crisis and a shortage of suitable housing in the capital.
She said: “People who have never been at risk of homelessness before – that’s never been a tangible possibility for them – are finding themselves in that position and sleeping on the street, which I think is very shocking and heartbreaking.”
Steph said there is a close link between mental health and homelessness and said at least half of rough sleepers the charity surveyed in the first three months of this year reported a mental health need while 70% said that theirs was impacting their recovery.
She said: “People rough sleeping, or without a stable home, sometimes don’t know when their next meal will be, or if they’ll sleep in a warm bed for the night. All this uncertainty can increase mental health needs, such as for anxiety and depression. And poor mental health makes it much harder for people to access support for homelessness.”
This is in line with data released by Greater London Authority which showed of those assessed for support needs across the capital, 51% needed support for mental health. Some 33% needed help for drugs while 29% needed support for alcohol-related issues.
The same data found the number of people sleeping rough between April and June this year was up 69% compared with the same quarter ten years ago. The total rough sleepers counted during that quarter was 2,497 and this has risen to 4,223.
Steph said homelessness among refugees granted asylum in the UK was also putting the service under significant additional pressure. She said this was not just frustrating but avoidable if the Home Office granted refugees more than 28 days to vacate accommodation it provided them.
She said this time frame was simply not long enough for anyone to find new accommodation. She called on a coordinated government effort to tackle the problem. According to the BBC, more than 5,000 refugee households were classed as homeless between October and December 2023 in England, four times as many as in the same period in 2022.
A City of London Corporation spokesperson said: “The City of London Corporation is determined to prevent rough sleeping and, when it does occur, we work to ensure that it is rare, brief, and non-recurring. We are absolutely committed to addressing the root causes of homelessness – and our Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Sub Committee drives this work.
“Castle Baynard Street is an area of priority for the City of London Corporation and our commissioned outreach services. Our officers coordinate a multi-agency approach to supporting rough sleepers.
“Among the services working at Castle Baynard Street are outreach workers, immigration advisors, clinical health specialists and substance misuse professionals. Our 14-bed assessment centre situated in the City works around the clock with rough sleepers in the Square Mile to provide an environment in which to recover, feel safe, and be supported.”
