Housing Justice holds Homelessness Sunday on the Sunday before World Homeless Day each year. This year, Homelessness Sunday falls on 5th October, and our theme is ‘Love thy neighbour’.
With rough sleeping continuing to rise, our aim is to raise awareness of the issues surrounding homelessness among Churches and their congregations by asking Churches to run their own Homelessness Sunday Service, either on 5th October or on a more convenient date.
The latest CHAIN (Combined Homelessness and Information Network) data for June shows 4,392 people were recorded as rough sleeping in London between April and June 2025. This is a 4% increase compared to the same quarter last year, and the number of people sleeping rough for the first time in this quarter rose by 4% to 2,014 people.
Latest Government data (published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in March) which covers all of England rather than just London, states that there were 3,438 people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in March 2025 – up by 70 people or 2% since December 2024 and up by 332 people or 11% since the same period last year.
We hope that by taking time to reflect on Homelessness Sunday, Church congregations will consider what they can do in their own community to alleviate homelessness, suffering and poverty. Here you will find a range of resources to support you if you would like to run your own Homelessness Sunday Service.
