LONDON: The number of people sleeping on the streets of London has hit a record high of nearly 12,000, latest figures showed on Thursday, as the impact of the UK`s cost-of-living crisis bites.

Britain, the world`s sixth-biggest economy, saw decades-high inflation in 2023 and a shortage of affordable rental properties over recent years.

Some 11,993 people were seen rough-sleeping in the capital in the year to March up 58 per cent in a decade and the highest number recorded in a single year, according to Homeless Link, the body for groups dealing with homelessness in England.

In 2013-14, the number of people sleeping on thestreets stood at 7,581.

Homeless Link chief executive Rick Henderson called the figures `appalling` and said the government that comes out of a July 4 general election should form a cross-party plan to tackle the problem.

He said `genuinely affordable and secure homes` need to be delivered quickly with properly-funded services to `help people address the root causes of their destitution and move on from rough sleeping for good`.

At a medical centre for the homeless in east London, the demand for services had `definitely... increased in the past couple of months`, said Mimi Hassan, an administrator at Health E1.-AFP