London's Heatwave Rough Sleeper Support: A 'Postcode Lottery'
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- Thames Reach and St Mungo's outreach teams are handing out water, running welfare checks, and directing rough sleepers to cool spaces as London endures its third heatwave of the year.
- Scientists estimated the May and June heatwaves killed 2,700 people in England and Wales, while rough sleepers face added risks from chronic health conditions and difficulty storing medications like insulin in extreme heat.
- Andy Burnham, in his first speech as prime minister last week, vowed to end rough sleeping in England "at the earliest opportunity," a move that Crisis chief executive Matt Downie called "a significant shift" toward a Housing First approach.
- London boroughs operate without a single city-wide temperature trigger or mandatory level of heat support — one charity told the Guardian the patchwork amounts to a "postcode lottery," even though councils have long had a severe weather emergency protocol (SWEP) for cold conditions.
- Sadiq Khan announced the Heat Ready London plan in June, which expands access to publicly available cooling spaces and free drinking water across the capital.
- Crisis estimates up to 15,000 people rough sleep in London over a year and is calling for mandatory SWEP provision nationwide, noting current emergency accommodation often lasts only a few nights before people return to the streets.
Why it matters: With an estimated 15,000 people rough sleeping in London each year and heatwaves already linked to 2,700 deaths across England and Wales, the absence of a mandatory city-wide heat-response protocol — while a cold-weather equivalent exists — means the most vulnerable face life-threatening conditions based purely on which borough they happen to be in.
